Chapter 357: Arrangements!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
It took only a few seconds for the information on the planet Demonbeast invasion to be displayed on the large screen of the command centre. When the commander saw that familiar egg-shaped object, he was instantly enlightened. Rage burned brightly in his heart and he cursed out loud, "Godd*mmit, it's those f*cking Twilightians again."
"Chief, according to the data, the metal of the eggs can avoid radar detection ..." The adjutant managed to find the info he wanted with a quick skim of the data. It looked like he had remembered correctly — radars were useless against these egg-shaped metal objects.
"So that's how it is. Issue the order — do not trust the radars, use infrared telescopes to search the skies." The commander had also seen that piece of information. Slamming a palm down hard on the surface before him, he commanded angrily.
"Yes! Chief!" The officers below the commander acknowledged his order and passed on his instructions. While the anti-air ground cannoneer troops were watching the skies intently, the team leaders of the New Cadet Regiment were leading all their team members to gather before Ling Lan's villa.
Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu, and Chang Xinyuan were the last to arrive as their accommodations were the furthest away from Ling Lan's villa. When they saw the crowd gathered in the little garden before the villa, even as they were astonished, they could feel the potential power behind Ling Lan.
As soon as they entered the living room, they saw twenty people either standing or sitting all around the room. When he saw these people, Li Lanfeng's gaze flickered subtly. He recognised all these people — the Wuji Mecha Clan had collected detailed information on the New Cadet Regiment previously. These people were all the team leaders in the New Cadet Regiment, and were likely to be the leaders of battle clans in the future. For now, they were all members of Ling Lan's New Cadet Regiment.
Ling Lan was currently seated on the sofa. Seeing Li Lanfeng and the other two arrive, she merely gave them a look signalling them to go find Qi Long. Li Lanfeng and the others knew that Ling Lan was in the middle of a discussion with these people, so they made no sound, silently moving to Qi Long's side.
Qi Long saw them coming and then told them about the situation. Li Lanfeng was shocked by the news — after receiving the text to come, he had been rushing over when he had suddenly heard the sound of sirens, so he knew something major must have happened, but he had never expected that things would be so serious.
However, Li Lanfeng quickly pushed the shock to the back of his mind. He focused his attention on Ling Lan, wanting to know what Ling Lan was discussing with the team leaders. After listening for a while, Li Lanfeng's expression became more and more grim. He did not expect the rabbit to be so daring, actually setting his sights on the mecha storehouse during such a dangerous moment.
"Clearly, the upcoming battle will be a mecha battlefield. We are personally too weak to stand against mecha. We have no way at all to resist, to protect ourselves. So, we need to obtain weapons equal to the enemy's," stated Ling Lan coldly.
"Boss Lan, it's not that we don't trust your judgment, but we have never used real mecha before, especially those members of the lower ranks. Some have only begun learning how to operate mecha in Mecha World. They will not be able to put up any fight at all." At this time, one team leader shared the real situation of the members below him. His words received the agreement of quite a number of the team leaders, because they too had a significant number of members like that under them.
"Is that so ...?" Ling Lan frowned at those words. Because all her team members could operate mecha, she had temporarily forgotten that not every team was as fearsome as her team 1 . After some thought, Ling Lan said, "It's my mistake ... then let's do this instead. We'll split into two groups. Those who have confidence in their skills can come with me, while those who cannot operate mecha yet will form another team ..."
Here, Ling Lan paused. Very soon, she handed out a document to all the team leaders and pointed out a spot marked with a red star. "The other team will go to this location. It is the most secure anti-air stronghold of the military academy. Once they are inside, they will not have to worry about their safety any longer."
It was naturally Little Four who had found this safe anti-air base as well. Right after they had arrived at the school, Little Four had already mapped out every single nook and cranny of the campus, whether it was open or hidden away. The school had around thirty anti-air facilities, but only three were the best in terms of sturdiness and safety. The one Ling Lan had marked out was the one closest to them out of the three.
Seeing this map, Wu Jiong was startled. He lifted his head to stare at Ling Lan, wondering — could it be that Boss Lan's hacker powers were already so strong that there was nowhere in this school which was barred to him? Coming from a military family, he knew very well that this map was definitely a confidential document. For Ling Lan to have gotten his hands on it within such a short time frame, he must have used some extraordinary means.
As if noticing the suspicion in Wu Jiong's eyes, Li Lanfeng, who had been closely observing the proceedings all this while, quickly spoke up, "This map was given to Boss Lan by me."
Li Lanfeng may have been too concerned about the rabbit and had not taken the time to reflect on the matter. Since these team leaders were all part of the New Cadet Regiment, they should already know a thing or two about the regiment commander Ling Lan's abilities. When he had spoken up, there had only been one thought in Li Lanfeng's mind, and that was that he must help the rabbit hide his secrets ...
Li Lanfeng's words made a trace of surprise flash across Ling Lan's eyes, but when she saw the worry contained in Li Lanfeng's eyes, she instantly understood why Li Lanfeng had said what he had said ...
The corners of Ling Lan's lips quirked up slightly, her heart suffused with pleasure. So it turned out that it felt pretty good to have someone worry for you. Basking in the enjoyment of this feeling, Ling Lan did not say anything to refute Li Lanfeng's statement. She leaned back on the sofa with a half-smile, waiting to see how Li Lanfeng would flesh out his lie.
Li Lanfeng's unexpected interjection made Wu Jiong turn his head to look at him in surprise. When he saw Li Lanfeng, his brow furrowed noticeably.
In contrast to Ling Lan and Qi Long who only focused on their own matters, Wu Jiong was clearly more like a true regiment commander. Over this period of time, he had completely grasped the information of the high-level people associated with the various major factions, and Li Lanfeng was one of them. Wu Jiong remembered very clearly that Li Lanfeng was the primary strategist of the Wuji Mecha Clan. Even though the Wuji Mecha Clan had taken in a new strategist this year, threatening his position within the faction, it could not be denied that the Wuji Mecha Clan's dominance over the Central Academy faction to stay in third place these past few years was definitely due to this person's strategies.
As a newborn faction, the other factions of the military academy were all rivals of the New Cadet Regiment. As such, this person should be someone on the opposing side, so why had he shown up here? With an expression filled with wariness, Wu Jiong asked coldly, "As the strategist of the academy's number three faction, the Wuji Mecha Clan, I'd like to know why you chose to hand this map to our regiment commander."
Wu Jiong had no doubts that this map had been submitted by Li Lanfeng. As the primary strategist of the Wuji Mecha Clan and a senior cadet who had hung around the academy for four years, it was still very possible for the other to obtain a top-secret map like this one.
Wu Jiong's questioning caused Li Lanfeng to instinctively shift back into his initial character role. With a slight smile on his face, he said, "Because I have already left the Wuji Mecha Clan and intend to join under Boss Lan's banner. And this map is my entrance submission. Boss Lan, isn't that so?" Li Lanfeng cast his gaze at Ling Lan, a subtle sense of pleading in his eyes, as if hoping for Ling Lan to work with him here.
Seeing this, Ling Lan nodded slightly and said, "Yes, it is indeed as he said." As expected of a black-bellied fellow, lies coming so easily to his lips ... Ling Lan found that she really did not know Li Lanfeng. Still, Ling Lan believed that Li Lanfeng's sincerity in wanting to join her battle clan was indisputable, even while he remained unaware of her true identity. This was why Ling Lan still chose to believe in Li Lanfeng even after learning of his true identity.
Wu Jiong was sceptical over Li Lanfeng's words, because no matter how you looked at it, the bright future of the Wuji Mecha Clan as one of the top three factions in the school was obviously much more attractive than the uncertain fate of the New Cadet Regiment. An intelligent person typically would not abandon Wuji and choose the New Cadet Regiment, and Li Lanfeng was precisely one of those most intelligent people.
Wu Jiong was not satisfied with Li Lanfeng's explanation, but seeing how composed Ling Lan was, he put aside the suspicions he harboured in his heart. Wu Jiong believed that since Ling Lan dared to take in Li Lanfeng, he must have some plan in mind. Perhaps there was some deeper meaning behind all this — Wu Jiong did not want to ruin Boss Lan's great plan by doing anything unnecessary.
However, Wu Jiong still could not help making a slight threat, "I hope you manage to do what you say ... don't disappoint Boss Lan." Strategists or whatever are the worst — they are all a bunch of inscrutable people with bellies full of plots and schemes — Wu Jiong was rather leery of people like that.
In response to Wu Jiong's threat, Li Lanfeng retained his usual smile just as if he had heard nothing, as composed as ever. This discouraged Wu Jiong somewhat — as expected, the other was not someone easy to handle.
At this point, Ling Lan could tell that this matter had come to a close. Not having to explain the source of the map made things considerably easier for Ling Lan. With a stern expression, she ordered all the team leaders, "Tally up the numbers immediately. Five minutes later, I want to know the final name lists for both groups."
"Yes, Regiment Commander!" replied everyone respectfully.
Five minutes went by quickly and the name lists were submitted. At this time, ten or so kilometres away from the academy, a sudden loud roaring of artillery firing could be heard, the flash from the shots lighting up the initially dark night ...
Everyone in the living room, other than Ling Lan, instantly leapt towards the windows. Looking up into the sky above, they saw that countless metal eggs had appeared. This scene caused all their faces to change. Although they trusted Boss Lan's judgment, really seeing it was another matter. When the night sky had been cut by the flares of artillery fire, what came into sight was a sky full of metal eggs, shocking them all to the core ... war had truly descended upon them.
Ling Lan calmly scanned the two lists in her hands and then clapping her hands together, she said loudly, "Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie!"
Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had been rendered dumbstruck by the scene in the sky; suddenly hearing Ling Lan shout out their names, they shivered and quickly replied, "Here!"
"You two, immediately lead the second team to the anti-air stronghold." Ling Lan handed the second name list to Wu Jiong.
Wu Jiong's gaze flickered but he did not reach out to take the list, as if somewhat hesitant to accept Ling Lan's orders. Ling Lan continued to say, "You both should know where the mecha storehouse is. We will wait for you two there. I cannot trust anyone else with this second group."
When Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie heard this, they were instantly filled with the feeling that it would be worth dying for someone who understood them. Wu Jiong nodded emphatically as he accepted the name list and replied, "Boss Lan, Yingjie and I will definitely make sure to escort them safely to the anti-air shelter."
Beside him, Li Yingjie also patted his chest in agreement that they would definitely complete the task given to them successfully.
Alright. This was the first time Li Yingjie, who liked strutting around causing trouble, had been entrusted with such an important task. In his excitement, his admiration for Boss Lan grew. Sure enough, Boss Lan was still the person who knew him best ... it actually felt so amazing to be trusted.