If the First Men’s Military Academy followed through to win this third match, then first place would belong to the First Men’s Military Academy; however… if they suffered a setback instead, the morale of the First Men’s Military Academy would be affected. The result was hard to determine.
In the First Men’s Military Academy’s audience area, Qi Long and the others were waiting for the third match to begin. Seeing how everyone was growing somewhat bored, Lin Zhong-qing took out a bag of goodies from his backpack and handed it to Xie Yi who was sitting beside him.
Xie Yi opened the bag and saw that it contained sunflower seeds to help pass the time; these were great for keeping one occupied during these dull moments. Very quickly, the members of the Lingtian Battle Clan divided a large portion of those seeds amongst each other. Lin Zhong-qing also didn’t forget the other teams and handed out another three to four bags.
While everyone was munching on sunflower seeds, they began to discuss who would be the next one from their academy to come out onto the arena.
“Boss said it before, they determine the order by rock-paper-scissors. Since luck is the main factor, you really can’t predict the outcome,” Luo Lang said amongst all the discussion.
Li Lanfeng’s hands, which were peeling sunflower seeds, slightly shuddered—is it really just luck? He wondered, his mouth revealing a small smirk. If Rabbit did something, it couldn’t be so simple, right?
Sitting beside Li Lanfeng, Han Jijyun noticed the former’s odd behavior. He quickly shot a glance towards Li Lanfeng, knowing fully well that Li Lanfeng had also realized the secret behind the ordering after having watched many matches. Other than the fixed sequence in the beginning, the ordering through pure luck using rock-paper-scissors still followed a certain pattern.
Zhao Jun was obviously on the brink of advancement, so the continuous fighting was benefiting him and thus, Zhao Jun always came out in the third match. This was the work of both Qiao Ting and their boss.
Han Yu was not very capable; therefore, they cut down his appearance in the matches. Mu Shaoyu’s strength wasn’t bad, so he would have more of a chance to be in the first three matches than Han Yu. The three that had gone a long way since the beginning of the finals, Zhao Jun, Ling Lan and Qiao Ting were the three strongest individuals from the First Men’s Military Academy. Their chances to come out and do battle were the highest. It was obvious that the order decided by the rock-paper-scissors arrangement was, in reality, not really determined by luck.
Han Jijyun was very impressed with Li Lanfeng right now. He had known since he was very young that his Boss Lan would not do something so immature—there had to be a hidden meaning to all this—so when the Boss had said they would decide using rock-paper-scissors, he had thought long about this decision, as to why he would be use this method.
Every time they finished determining the order, he had always carefully examined it and now he was finally able to understand something. He hadn’t thought that someone like Li Lanfeng, who joined them afterwards, also knew so much about the Boss… He really was looking out for the Boss if he could come to such a conclusion as well.
Han Jijyun would not exclude anyone who looked out for the Boss. A thought flashed in Han Jijyun’s mind, and he said, “Senior Li Lanfeng definitely knows who will be the next person on the lineup.”
Han Jijyun’s words made everyone quickly direct their eyes towards Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng turned his head towards Han Jijyun, his hands shaking. Han Jijyun’s eyes were bright as day, his pupils dilated, almost separating them from his sockets. This wasn’t the expression of a prankster, but one of sincerity…
Li Lanfeng immediately knew of Han Jijyun’s intentions—the latter wanted to give him a chance to prove himself in order to improve his standing with the other teammates, to prove that he was a competent strategist.
Li Lanfeng smiled. Only he knew of the excited expression he had under his masked expression. He calmed himself down with great effort. He couldn’t waste the chance that Han Jijyun had given him. He pulled himself together, pumping his fists together and coughing once. This made those who were waiting for the answer to shoot a bunch of cold, sharp glances at him.
Li Lanfeng did not dare to hesitate any longer, otherwise he would be making everyone angry. He said, “If my guess is correct, Boss Lan will be the one coming out to fight.”
“Why is it Boss?” Luo Lang, unlike the others who were deep in thought, asked in confusion.
Seeing this, Xie Yi held his forehead and laughed bitterly. Compared to those intelligent individuals from the other teams, Luo Lang, being in this team, was really a newbie at this.
Li Lanfeng looked towards Han Jijyun and smiled. “Junior Jijyun understands this as well.” Since Han Jijyun gave him a chance to show off, he had to return the favor and give Han Jijyun a chance as well.
And of course, Han Jijyun understood Li Lanfeng’s intentions. He didn’t object to it and began to explain, “In this match-up, Boss Lan and the others probably want to show how domineering the First Men’s Military Academy is, and take first place by defeating the opponent in the first three rounds. Therefore, the order in which they appear will definitely be the strongest individuals from our military academy. Since both Zhao Jun and Qiao Ting have been sent out, then the third match will definitely be our boss.”
After hearing this, Luo Lang was still quite perplexed. He asked, “Didn’t they say they would decide by rock-paper-scissors? Then why is it definitely going to be Boss coming out for the third match? The other two have a chance too.” After saying that, he whispered, “Luck isn’t something that you can determine.”
Xie Yi could no longer stand Luo Lang’s newbie remarks and quickly added, “We are probably basing it off luck, but with Boss’s capabilities, luck is not even in the equation.”
Right then, Luo Lang had a realization. This was true. For monsters like their boss, whether they came out to fight or not, luck would not be an issue—it was up to whether their boss wanted to or not.
Seeing that Luo Lang had come to an understanding, Xie Yi silently wiped away a streak of cold sweat. Luo Lang finally stopped his continued humiliation of the team and Xie Yi… ‘Ugh? What just happened?’
The First Men’s Military Academy predicted that the next to come out would be Ling Lan. Shortly after, the third match was about to begin.
The large screen showed a few large characters. “First Men’s VS First Co-ed, Third Match: Ling Lan VS Ye Feiyang!”
Seeing those words, Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun both smiled, now knowing that their predictions had been accurate.
The crowd in the bleachers once again erupted into heated discussion after the information of the players who would be in the third match was announced.
“Ye Feiyang is the second strongest special-class top-level operator in the First Co-ed Military Academy, only weaker by a bit compared to Lin Xiao. Looks like the First Co-ed Military Academy made a good choice!” said those who were in favor of the First Co-ed Military Academy.
“Ling Lan should be considered the third strongest in the First Men’s Military Academy, only behind Qiao Ting and Zhao Jun. This match still has something going for it.” Due to Ling Lan’s previous performances, many members of the audience were looking forward to how she would do.
“Although that Ling Lan’s basic training is perfect, looking at his previous opponents, they were comparatively weaker. This time he probably won’t be as lucky with this opponent!” There were some who looked down upon Ling Lan.
In the First Co-ed Military Academy’s side of the bleachers, Luo Chao’s face suddenly turned bright red after seeing the names on the big screen; she was unable to contain her admiration.
Han Xuya made a face upon hearing the seniors sitting around her saying that there was a chance they would be able to take this match. She lightly nudged Luo Chao and whispered, “Hey, Senior Ye doesn’t stand a chance right?”
Although Han Xuya wasn’t completely certain of Ling Lan’s mecha operating capabilities, like everyone else, she believed that Ling Lan was a special-class operator. However, from her childhood, her image of how Ling Lan was invincible was etched in stone for her. She had always believed that Boss Lan was invincible amongst those of the same level.
Luo Chao carefully glanced at the seniors around her and upon seeing that their attention was not on her, she quickly nodded her head. Truthfully, from how Luo Chao saw it, Boss Lan would not lose even if Senior Lin Xiao went up to fight, and the one currently on the field was Senior Ye—he was pretty much just delivering himself on a platter for Ling Lan.
Luo Chao began to feel pity for Senior Ye who was amiable and caring to them. Boss Lan would hopefully go easy on him since he was their senior.
Luo Chao suddenly felt sorry towards her own military academy and seniors for having such thoughts. She felt guilty, which made her already red face turn even redder, and she subconsciously began to play with her fingers. She would rather have her senior lose and not Boss Lan who took care of her when she was little.
Luo Chao bit her lip and decided she was going to be selfish this time. She… would only cheer for Boss Lan.
Right then, the two mechas of the contestants entered the arena. They were none other than Ling Lan and her opponent Ye Feiyang.
Ye Feiyang’s mecha was the same as Ling Lan’s—both were balanced-type mecha! Following Ling Xiao’s advancement to god-class, there had been an exponential increase in mecha operators choosing balanced-type mecha for use. This made the not so valued balanced-type mecha instantly become the Federation’s most popular type.
After the main referee in the center of the arena made sure the two competitors were ready, he waved the green flag in his hand and then the match officially began.
Ling Lan didn’t really change her battle strategy, still going with her choice of long-range attacks. After the green flag was waved, she flicked her fingers a few times, then began to quickly operate her mecha. From the perspective of the normal audience members, it felt as if Ling Lan’s mecha had rapidly flown backwards at the same time the green flag was waved.
In the eyes of top-level operators however, Ling Lan had taken a delay of milliseconds to move after the flag was waved and thus hadn’t performed a good flag-speed control. Going by this, it seemed that her flag-speed control from before was only by pure luck; the top-level operators all made this conclusion. Only Ling Xiao’s face had a smile growing.
Ling Lan’s opponent, Ye Feiyang, also made a similar display. Once Ling Lan moved, he moved as well, operating virtually at the same time Ling Lan did, minimizing his starting movement delay as much as possible, and this made the eyes of those top-level operators light up. They guessed there were many talented individuals in this year’s tournament.
Ye Feiyang didn’t choose to move back like Ling Lan, but instead closely followed after Ling Lan in the same direction. He wanted engage in close combat with Ling Lan.
Ye Feiyang was someone who always came prepared—other than Qiao Ting, Ye Feiyang had studied the battle recordings of the other four contestants because those four were likely to be his opponent.
Among those four, Ling Lan was the one whom he had paid most attention to as she operated a balanced-type mecha just like he did. After careful study, he couldn’t deny that Ling Lan was pretty much invulnerable when it came to long range combat. He wasn’t confident that he would be able to take the win if they fought a long-range battle.
When he was forming his battle strategy, Ye Feiyang decided to try to stay as close as possible. Although using balanced-type mecha required strong skills in close combat and long-range combat, people would always have their own preferences. Lin Xiao, for example, favored close combat more and was weaker in long-range combat. Similar to Lin Xiao, Ye Feiyang was also slightly better at close combat than long-range combat… Since Ling Lan’s long range abilities were that strong, it wouldn’t make sense if his close range combat was even stronger. Ye Feiyang didn’t believe that Ling Lan could be such a monster and firmly believed that Ling Lan’s skill in close combat was weaker than his own. He hoped to use his strong suit instead of his weaker side, not giving the opposition any chance at long-range combat.
In the bleachers of the First Men’s Military Academy, Qi Long watched the two mecha, one running and one chasing. He nudged Han Jijyun who was beside him with his elbow. “Jijyun, I’m seeing correctly right? That guy from the First Co-ed Military Academy wants to engage in close combat with Boss Lan?”