Chapter 286: The Assessment Team!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
The moment Luo Lang came out, he was whisked away by Wu Jiong to join the reception team. Initially, Luo Lang did not want to participate, but when he found out Boss Ling Lan was also part of the team, all his protestations died on his lips. Think about it. The boss was already doing it — how could the follower hide?
Not only that, Li Yingjie, who had just escaped the abyss of misery with him, was also snatched up by Ling Lan to join. Even though he really wanted to object, when Ling Lan swept a glacial stare upon him, Li Yingjie could only rub his nose and obediently accept his fate. Li Yingjie believed that Boss Ling Lan was still 100 times more brutal than his own second elder cousin brother.
Just like that, after training for approximately three days, it was finally their time to debut. Ling Lan led a bunch of handsome youths with stately physiques to the only main road connecting the military academy to the outside world. There, they arranged themselves into a long line, whereafter they stood tall and unmoving. Dressed in the white and blue ceremonial military uniforms specially designed by the school, these youths appeared extraordinarily heroic with maximum visual impact, a real treat for the eyes of any observers.
The administrators of the school who came to supervise were extremely satisfied by this. Of course, this was just the first step — whether these youths were just pretty on the surface, or were true gems, would still depend on their upcoming performance.
The assessment teams from the various army divisions arrived one after the other to the First Men's Military Academy. When they saw the reception team standing there in welcome, they were all startled. When had the First Men's Military Academy begun doing such a thing as well?
"Salute!" Ling Lan cried out, and all the members of the reception team lifted their heads and executed a cadet's salute almost simultaneously. The coordinated dance of their white gloves, along with their stern and serious faces, caused the initially indifferent attitudes of those from the assessment team to shift, becoming serious and proper in turn. They reflexively lifted their hands to return a salute, before solemnly walking past the reception team towards the inner grounds of the school.
As every assessment team walked by the reception team, though their attitudes were extremely solemn, it could not be denied that there was a trace of approval in their eyes. It looked like the performance of the reception team had indeed pleased them.
Seeing this, the administrators of the school could not help but be secretly gleeful, certain that their decision back then was not wrong. These new cadets were surprisingly capable — doing things this way fully displayed the masculine force and daring of the First Men's Military Academy. Taking the members' handsome appearances and their youthful manners into consideration as well, even the most stubborn and bitter soldier could not help but find their mood lifted by such a sight.
All the assessment teams were to arrive over the course of three days. The teams included the 23 permanent army divisions and 10 or so other independent armies. It could not be considered a lot, but it was not very little either — every single assessment team that passed by was greeted by the reception team as if they were facing a great enemy, with all of their strength.
Perhaps the military academy's pretty boy strategy had succeeded, for after the assessment teams arrived at the school, their attitudes did indeed seem much better than before during the previous years. This made the administrators of the school let out a great sigh of relief — it looked like they had done the right thing.
Ling Lan snorted derisively at how the military academy relaxed just like that. She did not believe that the assessment teams would show any mercy just because they now had a good impression of the school. When it was necessary to be ruthless, they definitely would not falter and show mercy. This was the base nature of a competent soldier. It could only be said that the school administrators had been away from the army for too long — they had already forgotten some things.
However, Ling Lan would not go remind these administrators — after all, the cadets just needed to complete the task set by the military academy and that would be enough. As for the final outcome, that had nothing to do with the new cadets at all; Ling Lan was perfectly happy to be a carefree bystander.
However, Ling Lan's composure only lasted for the first two days. On the third day, when the representatives of the 23rd Division appeared, Ling Lan's composed face finally faltered.
The 23rd Division was one of the new permanent army divisions of the Federation. When it had appeared on the name list of assessment teams, it had drawn the collective attention of all the instructors at the academy. Of course, it being the division of her own dad, no matter how cool Ling Lan acted, she could not help but speculate who her dad had sent to take charge of the assessment this time. She naturally wished that a fair and unbiased team leader would be sent so that the 23rd Division could leave an excellent impression with the First Men's Military Academy.
However, when she saw one man stepping down from the special train from the spaceport, her initially unmoved ice-block face finally cracked, giving a violent twitch.
That man who was intentionally pulling his army cap down with a large face-mask covering half his face ... even though he was dressed in a major general uniform, pretending to be aloof, how could this familiar presence fool her eyes?
Ling Lan clenched her teeth internally. 'Bloody hell, why is my idiot dad here?! What in the world is he planning?'
"Ah, it's daddy ... !!" In the mindspace, Little Four's eyes were spilling over with red hearts, squealing joyfully as he stared at Ling Xiao fanatically. He was instantly sent flying with a kick from Ling Lan. "You bloody keep quiet!"
"Boo hoo hoo, Boss, I haven't seen daddy in so long. Why aren't we saying hi to daddy?" Little Four quickly scrambled back, crying as he hugged Ling Lan's leg, strongly requesting to go reunite with their daddy.
"It's obvious from a glance that this idiot dad is here undercover. How can I go greet him?" Ling Lan stared speechlessly at that man who thought he was disguised so well, really unsure what she could say anymore.
Luckily, the people by his side were intentionally blocking off the others' line of sight, and Ling Xiao himself was keeping a low profile, so his identity was not exposed.
When the 23rd Division assessment team passed before Ling Lan, Ling Xiao abruptly stopped. His eyes, the only part of him exposed, were clearly smiling as he asked, "Both stance and ceremony are pretty good. Are you all freshmen?"
Was he intentionally making conversation? Ling Lan mentally rolled her eyes dramatically at her dad, but as composed as usual on the surface, she saluted and replied, "Yes, Sir."
Ling Xiao turned to look at the accompanying administrators beside Ling Lan and said with a laugh, "Not bad! Having such flair even as freshmen. It looks like the First Men's Military Academy lives up to its name!" Ling Xiao's intention was absolutely to praise his own daughter, nothing at all to do with the First Men's Military Academy.
However, the administrators registered his words differently. Almost everyone felt that this was the representative of the 23rd Division expressing appreciation for the military academy, and this instantly injected joy onto their faces. It was wonderful! But of course they still acted humble on the surface, repeatedly saying 'not at all, not at all'.
Mind you, even though the previous other divisions had reacted favourably towards the welcoming team, they had not said anything outright, maintaining the unassailable dignity of an army division all the way. It was unexpected that the leader of the 23rd Division's team was so friendly — this made the 23rd Division's impression rise by several notches more in the administrators' eyes.
At the same time, they were awed at how General Ling Xiao was truly General Ling Xiao — even a subordinate of his was so nice, causing others to feel as if visited by a balmy spring breeze. They began to plan — since the 23rd Division thought so well of the First Men's Military Academy, could it be that they would take in more cadets from the school this time? At that thought, the administrators' hearts heated up with excitement. They all prepared to return and pass on the word to all the instructors, telling them to encourage the students to apply for enlistment to the 23rd Division as much as possible ...
This fondness the administrators had for the 23rd Division would continue on indefinitely after this. In future, every year, they would not forget to remind the instructors to encourage their students to choose enlistment with the 23rd Division as much as they could ...
This was Ling Xiao's personal charisma — he would always breed a favourable impression in others' hearts, and they would then choose to follow him without even knowing it!
"Wowowowow, Daddy's awesome!" Witnessing this scene, Little Four once again turned into a crazed fan, staring adoringly at Ling Xiao with his face cupped in his hands. At this moment, Little Four looked nothing like an intelligence entity 1 .
Ling Lan stared up at the sky, speechless. She just knew that whenever Little Four met Ling Xiao, his systems would shut down and his higher functions would stop working. It looked like if she wanted to preserve Little Four's reliability, she would need to keep him away from Ling Xiao.
"This youth is pretty good. While we're here at the military academy, is it possible to ask this student to accompany us and take us around the school, so that we can better understand things?" Ling Xiao requested from the administrators smilingly as he pointed at Ling Lan. The administrators naturally clamoured to agree — didn't this mean that the 23rd Division's interest in the school was that much greater? This was a good thing! They must support this!
This move of Ling Xiao's instantly threw Ling Lan's plans out the window 2 , causing Ling Lan to silently gnash her teeth. It looked like Little Four would be unable to help her for a long time after this.
Just like that, within the First Men's Military Academy, the first meeting between the Ling Xiao and Ling Lan father-daughter pair went by so unremarkably without drawing anyone's attention ...
Oh, no, well that was not quite true. After the representative of the 23rd Division assessment team had walked a distance away, Luo Lang, who had been standing right beside Ling Lan, asked her softly with a face filled with confusion, "Boss Lan, you know that person?"
Ling Lan quirked a brow, answering with just a look, as if asking why Luo Lang was asking this question.
"I felt your aura become a little unsteady earlier ..." said Luo Lang uncertainly. Ever since subduing all his secondary personalities, Luo Lang's sixth sense had become extremely sensitive. He was now able to pick up the emotions of those he cared about, like how Ling Lan had obviously felt a little troubled earlier.
"Tell you when we get back," Ling Lan replied lowly. Since her dad was here, she believed that her old man absolutely would not leave quietly without a trace — he would definitely cause some trouble. Moreover, she too wanted to let her dad meet these companions by her side. She wanted to tell her father that these companions were her most treasured brothers and that she hoped Ling Xiao would value them highly as well.
At this time, Ling Lan still had not realised that her current actions were just like that of a child on the cusp of growing up seeking a parent's approval.
Luo Lang nodded his head at her reply and said nothing more. This was because the welcoming ceremony had not ended yet — there were still a few more assessment teams from both the divisions and the independent armies about to arrive.
Three days were enough to make even these youths with excellent physical constitutions feel thoroughly wrung out. When the administrators finally declared the end of their task, the youths all cheered wildly, extremely grateful that they had finally left this abyss of misery behind.
Truth be told, even though the whole thing seemed to only be a few simple movements — standing at attention, lining up, and saluting — the mental pressure the youths were under belied their casual demeanours. These soldiers who were here for the assessment were all battle-hardened soldier kings from various battlefields — an oppressive cloud of killing intent hung around them, constantly challenging the psychological resilience of these youths at every turn.
Facing these strong and formidable examiner-soldiers, the youths had been able to perform their duties so perfectly, composed and assured, unusually calm and undisturbed, all because of Ling Lan's daily bombardment with her own aura. This allowed the youths to become used to this type of killing intent within the shortest period of time possible.
In the end, they had persevered and completed their mission flawlessly. At the same time, they had also left an extremely favourable impression with those assessment team representatives. This established solid foundations for their future development — no matter which army division they went to, as long as they mentioned being part of this year's reception team, those officers would view them with different eyes. It went without question that their future development would definitely not be too bad.