The main referee quickly waved the red flag signaling the end of the match after Ling Lan’s five-hit combo; he had already received the match results from the referee team. Ling Lan’s five-hit combo had directly reduced the opponent’s score to zero. There was no doubt as to who the winner was.
The First Co-ed Military Academy had lost the third match as well. At this result, the students of the First Co-ed Academy wore sorrowful looks on their faces. Their opponent had managed to snatch three matches to take the win, while their strongest team leader Lin Xiao still hadn’t even gone out to battle. This gave them the illusion that they had more strength to expend.
Lin Xiao saw the result and smiled grudgingly. “In reality, the purpose behind the First Men’s Military Academy’s lineup order was very defined—to use their strongest to take the first three matches. We were too conservative in that aspect, so losing was on us as well.”
Lin Xiao had unwillingly accepted the result. The other side had to have so much confidence to have done something like that. If it was him, he wouldn’t have dared, which was why their lineup had given the opposition an advantage and thus losing him his chance to participate.
At the First Men’s Military Academy’s audience area, Mu Shaoyu let out a sigh of relief after seeing Ling Lan finally win this match. If Ling Lan had lost, it would have been risky to depend on Han Yu and himself to win the next match. He wasn’t underestimating themselves, but just that the opposing ace operator Lin Xiao gave off a lot of pressure.
However, Ling Lan’s luck really wasn’t bad! “Who knew that Ling Lan would be able to grab onto the opponent at a crucial moment, giving him the chance to determine the winner with one shot! So lucky!” Mu Shaoyu exclaimed.
Zhao Jun pouted upon hearing this—was it really luck? He believed that Boss had definitely done it on purpose.
Who knew Boss Lan was such an amazing actor that he was able to act like a mecha operator who had seemed to be pushed back so naturally. If he had always been pummeled by Ling Lan, he probably wouldn’t have been fooled by Boss Lan, but to Zhao Jun, however, Boss Lan’s performance was unexpected. He had initially thought that Boss Lan would beat the opponent to a pulp, but now it looked like his thinking had been too simple compared to Boss Lan. Boss Lan wasn’t that impulsive—he clearly knew what would benefit him the most.
Qiao Ting stared at Ling Lan’s face that displayed on the big screen and suddenly frowned, his eyes showing a hint of confusion. In reality, he had a sneaking feeling that Ling Lan did not perform to his best. The memory of that time when Ling Lan had easily pummeled him with one strike was still fresh in his mind… Back then, Ling Lan’s aura was extremely intimidating, which him the feeling of being unable to fight back… Was it because his mecha was so damaged at the time and thus he couldn’t fight back?
Qiao Ting couldn’t find an answer right away. He could only put this uncertainty in the back of his mind. Maybe after one year or so, he would be able to find the answer during another bout with Ling Lan.
Ling Lan’s win meant that the mecha group battle matches were over; however, Ling Lan and the others still couldn’t leave the arena because there was an award ceremony. All of the top four winners had the chance to go up on the stage to receive an award.
Each team went up one by one to receive their awards. The first award to be presented was fourth place, then third, then second. The guest who presented the awards for them was going to be the the vice president of the Federation.
It finally got to the turn of the First Men’s Military Academy who placed in first place. Their five members lined up and walked on stage. Right when they had stopped and stood on the stage, the host announced that the guest who would be handing out their award would be General Ling Xiao.
The crowd erupted at this announcement.
Upon hearing that the guest to hand them the award was Ling Xiao, Ling Lan’s heart began to race. She remembered that the guest presenter would normally still be the vice president. Had Ling Xiao requested this sudden change-up? Ling Lan’s hairs shot up at the thought. Knowing that her father would always take opportunities to validate his own existence in front of her, he definitely could have made such a request.
Hearing this announcement, Zhao Jun who was standing beside Ling Lan became excited. “Boss Lan, it’s, it’s, it’s General Ling Xiao…”
“Calm your a** down! Don’t make me look bad!” Ling Lan reprimanded coldly while rolling her eyes.
It wasn’t like her father grew an extra head or something—did he have to be so excited? But this was because she couldn’t understand the feeling of meeting your idol in person. Zhao Jun was unfortunately reprimanded.
Seeing how Boss Lan’s expression was so calm and collected, Zhao Jun felt ashamed of himself, feeling as though he was bringing down the team. He inadvertently turned his head towards the other three and saw that Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu were just like him, their faces red with excitement. Although Qiao Ting was trying his best to remain calm, him taking deep breaths and squeezing his fists showed that he was not actually calm.
Zhao Jun’s feeling of embarrassment instantly evaporated. Man, guess it wasn’t that he had made them look bad, but actually because their Boss Lan wasn’t human—that’s why he could ignore someone like Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao quickly walked up onto the stage, with his first adviser He Xuyang walking alongside him. For Ling Xiao’s own protection, staff members were not allowed to get close to him. They could only hand the trophies to He Xuyang, then have He Xuyang pass them on to Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao was very handsome and was someone who always had a smile on their face. He gave off an aura of warmth, which made the anxious feelings of the boys dissipate.
Ling Xiao walked straight forward to stand before Qiao Ting who was the first in the line. Right when Ling Xiao stopped, Qiao Ting, still trying his best to contain himself, gave a cadet’s salute to Ling Xiao. The latter smiled and returned it with an army salute and then turned around, and took the trophy and certificate He Xuyang passed to him. He carefully handed them to Qiao Ting and then said, “Qiao Ting, keep up the good work! I look forward to seeing your performance once you enter the army!”
“Yes, General!” Qiao Ting said, immediately standing up straight, full of excitement. If he wasn’t already arranged to be in the third division, he really would have wanted to sign up for the 23rd Division and successfully become General Ling Xiao’s subordinate.
Ling Xiao then handed awards to Mu Shaoyu, Han Yu and Zhao Jun, giving them each some words of encouragement—and now it was Ling Lan’s turn.
Ling Lan gave her father a cadet’s salute with a straight face and Ling Xiao returned an army salute. He handed the trophy and certificate to Ling Lan who respectfully received them.
Right then, Ling Xiao said smiling, “Son, your performance wasn’t bad. Keep up the hard work!”
S… son!!! Ling Xiao actually announced their relationship without caring that Qiao Ting and the others were around. Ling Lan became stupefied.
Ling Lan’s facial expression made Ling Xiao laugh, his smile now even bigger. He suddenly made an “Ah” sound and said with frustration, “I was so excited that I forgot that I promised you I wouldn’t talk about this!” Ling Xiao turned his head towards Qiao Ting and the others who were shocked, smiled weakly and said, “You guys gotta help keep it a secret, okay?”
“Oh oh oh…” The four of them subconsciously nodded. Qiao Ting was the first to return to himself and earnestly replied, “Yes, General!”
After saying that, Qiao Ting glanced at Ling Lan with eyes filled with astonishment and sudden realization. Ling Lan was this outstanding despite being at such a young age. It turned out that his father was the god-class operator Ling Xiao. Ling Xiao probably went through countless means in order make Ling Lan stronger.
At that moment, Ling Lan felt her teeth itch. She had even deliberately withheld this information from the members of the team she had joined afterwards, but it was all for naught now that her father had made such a blunder. Now, even if it wasn’t brought up and discussed openly, the information that Ling Xiao was her father would still spread through the higher-ups of all mecha clans. It would become the military academy’s hidden and unpublicized secret.
Ling Lan was so angry that she began grinding her teeth, then squeezed out one sentence, “Father, you can leave now.”
Such an impolite tone made He Xuyang who was standing on the side laugh out loud. Young Master Lan was still the same as before, not leaving General Ling Xiao with any dignity.
Ling Xiao shot a glance towards him. He Xuyang quickly readjusted his demeanor, pretending he hadn’t laughed just now. When Ling Xiao turned back to Ling Lan, there was a look of aggrievement in his eyes. He had only just wanted to be identified as Ling Lan’s father in front of everyone. And also, my baby girl, when are you going to call me “Daddy”?
Seeing how Ling Xiao was just shamelessly standing in front of her, Ling Lan felt helpless. “You are a freaking General! A General! Can’t you maintain your general-like demeanor? What is that saddened expression for? I’m not like Mom. I don’t submit to this crap!” Ling Lan thought.
Ling Xiao and Ling Lan looked at each other straight in the eyes, neither willing to give in. Ling Xiao stood by Ling Lan for so long that it led to those below the stage break out in discussion, not knowing what was happening on stage.
Ling Lan was so angry she bit her tongue. Her dad was crafty enough to threaten her to only leave the stage when she called him dad… She squeezed out another sentence, “Daddy, you can go now.”
Ling Xiao smiled with satisfaction, then left the stage together with He Xuyang. With staff members leading the way, Ling Lan angrily marched down the stage. She would definitely get back on the loss she suffered this time! Ling Lan decided that tonight, she would find Lan Luofeng and cry to her. She needed Ling Xiao to understand that the ultimate weapon was in her possession.
Compared to Ling Lan’s upset feeling, Zhao Jun had an expression of someone who was just dreaming—he pretty much walked off the stage on all fours. Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu were also so mesmerized that they were bumping into each other. Their comical behavior made the audience erupt in laughter; however, this was understandable since Ling Xiao was the idol of everyone in the Federation.
“Hey guys, what do you think General Ling Xiao said that made Zhao Jun and the others behave in such a poor manner?” Chang Xinyuan asked curiously in the spectator area. He believed that Zhao Jun would not have behaved like that just from meeting General Ling Xiao.
There were a few people who knew that Ling Xiao was Ling Lan’s father. Looking at each other, they guessed it was probably that General Ling Xiao had disclosed this information at the podium, which was why Zhao Jun, Han Yu and Mu Shaoyu were behaving unusually. Although Qiao Ting didn’t make a mistake, he still appeared to be a bit absent minded, like he was surprised by something. They couldn’t think of anything else aside from this information that could surprise them to this extent.
However this information was Boss Lan’s personal information. If Boss Lan didn’t say anything then they couldn’t reveal this secret to the other three who did not know of it.
Li Lanfeng was someone with keen senses—he instantly became aware of their exchanges through their lines of sight. He thought for a moment before asking Han Jijyun, “Can’t say it?”
Han Jijyun was silent at first, but then said, “It is Boss Lan’s information. We can’t really say anything.”
Li Lanfeng’s eyes lit up. Han Jijyun’s words actually gave him a clue. “General Ling Xiao and our Boss Lan both have the surname “Ling”. Is there a connection between Ling Xiao and Boss Lan?”
Han Jijyun didn’t answer, but silence was also a way of answering. Li Lanfeng’s thought process opened up. “Of course there’s many types of connections. It could be a nephew from the clan or a nephew born from a cousin’s family. However, although these relationships would surprise people, they wouldn’t give such a shock to the point where they forget themselves… I remember that General Ling Xiao got married a year before he was deployed. If you calculate the year and time of his “death”, then it’s very possible that he had a posthumous child. If that was the case, then that child would be the same age as Boss Lan…”
Han Jijyun smiled weakly and thought, “Li Lanfeng, can’t you just be a little less smart?”
“What could shock Zhao Jun and the others…” Li Lanfeng’s eyes lit up. “It could only be that Ling Xiao is Boss Lan’s father!” he said without hesitation.
Han Jijyun softly pulled on Li Lanfeng and whispered, “Don’t anyone else know until Boss Lan allows it.”
Li Lanfeng nodded prudently and said, “I know!” If other people knew Ling Lan was Ling Xiao’s child, those who were jealous of Ling Xiao might bring harm to Ling Lan in order to hurt Ling Xiao. Li Lanfeng would not do anything that might possibly bring harm and danger to Rabbit.
Han Jijyun looked deeply into Li Lanfeng’s eyes and saw his discreteness and honesty, showing that Li Lanfeng’s words came from his heart and were not just for show. Han Jijyun let out a sigh of relief. Good thing he hadn’t made a huge mistake—Li Lanfeng was definitely a trustworthy individual.
At the same time, Qiao Ting and the others returned to the backstage and slowly began to calm down. In unplanned unison, they all managed to think about a certain research report that the Federation had publicized.
Han Yu’s expression was complicated. He was both envious and admiring of Ling Lan’s terrifying figure. However, slowly, his expression became clear. Although he didn’t have such a powerful background like Ling Lan, he would not stop marching onwards. This was something that Ling Lan wanted to have but would never be able to acquire.
His expression when he glanced at Ling Lan again was that of sympathy. They had hopes of advancing to imperial class or even god-class, but Ling Lan’s fate had already been determined—ace operator was the endgame for the child of a god-class operator. Even if they used secret techniques and remedies to make her stronger, she would still only become a fake imperial operator at the elite ace level who would have a name with a nice ring to it.
Han Yu thought he had found out what the answer was; he believed that the reason Ling Lan was able to advance so quickly was because of secret techniques and secret medications. His previous worries vanished. Now, his rival was only Qiao Ting, while Ling Lan was just something of the past.
Qiao Ting also thought about this issue. His will to fight dwindled instantly. He had spent almost a whole year of time comparing himself with someone who didn’t have a future. Perhaps he should be preparing for the third division’s examination where his future rival would be, in the army and not the academy.
Mu Shaoyu pitied Ling Lan. He had originally thought that the First Men’s Military Academy would have a second Qiao Ting, but now it seemed that wasn’t going to happen.
It was only Zhao Jun who, after calming down, first thought about whether there was something wrong with those research results. Having battled with Ling Lan, Zhao Jun fully understood how scary Ling Lan was—he didn’t believe that ace-level was Ling Lan’s limit.
A person like that had never appeared before, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t appear in the future! It was too early to judge the situation. There was a hint of disdain in Zhao Jun’s expression when he imagined the day when Boss Lan became a powerful force to be reckoned with, or like General Ling Xiao, becoming an IN-mecha god-class mecha operator—this would surprise everyone to the point where their eyeballs would fall out of their sockets. Zhao Jung grew excited thinking of this possibility, and he felt that joining the Lingtian Battle Clan would give color his life in different ways. He was now somewhat looking forward to life in the army.
The winners were warmly welcomed by those from the First Men’s Military Academy. Since all five of them had their own little groups, they were going to celebrate separately.
Ling Lan used some of her free time to visit Zhang Jing-an, who was still in the medical treatment center, to give him his trophy and certificate.
Zhang Jing-an well on the way to recovery, but it would require at least six months for him to get back to his peak condition. However, the military had made a special exemption and relieved him from this year’s military evaluations to compensate Zhang Jing-an. This meant that out of the 23 different divisions, Zhang Jing-an could choose to go to any of them after his injuries healed and receive the best treatment possible after entry. He had pretty much benefited from the accident.
Upon leaving the medical treatment center, Ling Lan was stopped by members of the Lingtian Battle Clan who had been hiding around the main entrance. The members specially gave their congratulations to Zhao Jun and Ling Lan. Of course, there were other members not from the clan as well. Luo Chao and Han Xuya had come after facing the sorrowful faces of their seniors. When Luo Chao arrived, her face was full of guilt, feeling that she wasn’t caring for her own seniors.
Han Xuya, on the other hand, was smiling without a care in the world. She firmly believed that she was a part of the Lingtian Battle Clan and that she would be with Boss Lan and the others forever. Since it was like this, then the Co-ed Military Academy’s seniors were only considered passersby in her life. Why would she make herself feel uncomfortable for these passerbys? It should be known that Han Xuya was someone who knew how to live. A girl who always had a smile on their face would be happy for the rest of her life.
Ling Lan saw that it was all people she trusted, so she took the opportunity and told everyone in the team about how Ling Xiao was her father. Those who didn’t know this were utterly shocked. Chang Xinyuan was the dumbest one. He hadn’t thought that the short life-saving branch he had unwillingly held onto was, in fact, a strong and unmoving tree that reached the clouds.
Li Lanfeng had already guessed as much, but it felt different hearing this information from Ling Lan. Li Lanfeng was a bit excited. Didn’t this mean that Ling Lan viewed them as brothers and unlike Qi Long and the others?
Without speaking for the entire night, the next morning Ling Lan and Qiao Ting followed the information of a notice to a large meeting hall. There were many sitting inside, all of them representatives from military academies waiting to compete in the tournament.
The battle royale that everyone viewed as most important event, which would make up half of the overall score, was going to begin. First, all of the academies would gather together and pick out the location of their base in the battle royale.
The battle royale was a “defense and invasion of terriories” ultimate battle. The participating military academies could be the opposition or could be allies—it was based on choice. For the base location, only the team that picked it out would know the actual place. Whether a base could be defended to the end all depended on the performance of the contestants.
Of course, successfully defending the base was only a passing grade. How can I take over the opposition’s base? This was what everyone participant needed to think about. If they wanted to gain points, then they had to break through more bases without losing their own. The ranking would be based on how many bases were taken over by each team. The higher the rank, the higher the score.
Thus, it was normal that those who were allies just a second ago could turn into the enemy in the next. Similarly, those who were the enemy could turn around to become an ally.
The field of a battle royale was ever changing. It tested the teams’ combat ability, strategy, foresight and quick adaptation. It also tested emotions and trust, as suspicion and betrayal would all be present. It could be said that battle royales were merciless—one could only trust oneself.
At the end of the meeting hall there was large screen, which showed the scaled down map of this battle royale. There was land, water, forest, desert, grasslands, hills, valleys, tundras and mountain peaks.
There was a small stand in front of the large screen. On the stand, there was a small screen that only the person who drew the straw would be able to see. There were two buttons at the bottom of the screen. One was “Start” and one was “Confirm”. First, the person drawing would hit “Start” which would cause the map to begin to split into many different numbers and spin quickly, and then by hitting “Confirm” they would choose a number from the pool. That number would then be the participating military academy’s base camp location.
Of course, the base camp would only be known by the person who drew it. After everyone had a chance to draw, the large screen would show a one minute time limit for bits of information about other teams. This way, everyone would be able to remember their own area along with the other teams who resided around their area. This was to prevent some military academies from not being able to find any other team’s base camp, as well as to give more pressure and apply more difficulty to the defenders of the base camp.
The one who went up to draw for the First Men’s Military Academy was Ling Lan. She pressed down on the button and the numbers in middle of the screen flew around rapidly, but Ling Lan was still able to clearly see all the numbers. Every number had letter in front of it. Using only a few seconds, she saw letters G, S, P, Q, D. Ling Lan began to quickly speculate that those could indicate the area or the type of terrain.
If the letters indicated which area, then there would be no point because no knew how the hosts had sectioned off the different areas. However, if it referred to the type of terrain, then it could be possible to use the letter to find out. Ling Lan had an idea and made a decision. She put her hand on the “Confirm” button, her eyes staring closely at the numbers that were still flickering around on the little screen.
“It’s this one!” Ling Lan finger moved, but perhaps it was too fast—her finger had seemed as though it hadn’t even moved.
The flickering on the small screen stopped and a number showing “G17” appeared. Ling Lan smirked. Whether she was right or not, she had already done what she could.
After one second, the small screen returned to its original condition. Ling Lan left afterwards, returning to her own seat. Qiao Ting didn’t even ask Ling Lan what the result of the draw was, as he knew very well that once Ling Lan had walked off the stage, the battle royale had already begun. There could be many traps set up by the hackers all around them. Once they started talking to each other, it was possible that the information would leak.
Not long after, everyone had all finished drawing their locations. The map on the large screen suddenly broke into many small pieces, some having numbers and some not.
Ling Lan knew that the ones that had information were drawn by the military academies as their base camps. Those that didn’t have numbers were not drawn and were thus not occupied. These were considered to be territories that could be taken to yield some points. Although they would not give as much points as breaking through a base camp, they could be easily taken over without any danger. In order to gain the most amount of points, these unoccupied areas would be given up so easily. Ling Lan similarly did not want to give them up.
Ling Lan quickly skimmed the map, her eyes stopping at the continuous mountain range. The mountain range was split into around 25 to 26 areas. The letter in front was as Ling Lan had speculated and indeed started with a “G”. G17’s location wasn’t too bad. It was in the inner parts of the mountain ranges. There were only three military academies’ base camp that were close to them. Ling Lan quickly memorized all this.