Chapter 384 - Little Four's Mistake!
"Movement!" Qiao Ting's group, which was rushing towards Ling Lan's group, suddenly felt vibrations coming from below their feet.
Everyone became nervous — because their radars were still blank, they had no idea what exactly was behind these vibrations.
The vibrations were gentle at the start, but several seconds later, they became more and more intense. Qiao Ting's group knew that something was about to appear before them soon.
"Godd*mmit, our radar scanning functions have all stopped working." Only now did Qiao Ting's team realise this fact. However, they did not know that this was a result of the imperial operator blocking all the signals within this sector. If Ling Lan had not possessed the oddball Little Four, she too would have been just like Qiao Ting's team, completely oblivious to the others' presence till they actually bumped into them.
"Prepare to fight!" Qiao Ting instantly gave his orders. No matter what appeared, preparing to fight would never be wrong. Of course, Qiao Ting could be certain that it definitely was not that imperial operator who was creating such an intense vibration. Ruling out the threat of that imperial operator, Qiao Ting behaved calmly and rationally.
"Yes, Regiment Commander!" Qiao Ting's composure calmed the rest of his team down as well. They all drew the weapons from their backs, preparing to meet these unexpected enemies. Of course, it was also possible that the comers were friendlies, but having been frightened by the imperial operator previously, their nerves were taut and they did not dare to take things lightly.
As the point man of the team, the mecha standing right at the front was the first to see the outer forms of the newcomers. Pleasant surprise flashed through his eyes and he hurriedly reported on his team commlink, "The outer form of the mecha has been confirmed to be trainee mecha from the academy. Level: advanced, 5 mecha! Oh, another has appeared, and that mecha is —— an ace mecha!"
When the other team members heard that the other party was operating advanced trainee mecha of the academy, their hearts settled. However, when the point man added that last bit in a tone a whole octave higher, everyone was stupefied ...
This was because everyone knew that, in the entire military academy, only their regiment commander, Thunder King Qiao Ting of Leiting, was qualified to operate ace mecha. They had not heard of any other person in the academy capable of piloting ace mecha so far. Could it be that the one piloting it was an instructor?
That was their first thought, but this notion was quickly overturned. All of the ace level instructors in the academy had their own personal ace mecha — they would never choose to pilot this type of ace trainee mecha which was obviously weaker than military-use ace mecha on all fronts.
Could it be that the person inside was operating it beyond their true level? Excluding operation by an instructor, this was the only other possibility they could think of. However, after observing that ace mecha's movements, they once again ruled out this speculation. That ace mecha's movements were natural, without any sense of stiffness or choppiness. This meant that the operator inside was operating it with ease, and this was absolutely not something someone operating across levels could do. Cross-level operation was very taxing and difficult — every step would drain a tremendous amount of the operator's mental strength and physical stamina. As such, it would be impossible for the mecha's movements to seem so smooth and natural.
Before Qiao Ting's team could come up with a reasonable explanation, the two sides were finally facing each other in the blink of an eye. About 100 metres or so away, the other party suddenly stopped, and the six mecha faced them from that distance without approaching any closer.
Just as Qiao Ting was about to initiate conversation and ask the other group some questions, a ripple appeared in the air above them, and that missing imperial mecha once again appeared before Qiao Ting's group.
Seeing this familiar imperial mecha, the faces of Qiao Ting's group instantly turned pale. Even Qiao Ting could not help but feel his heart drop, yelling internally that they were all done for. Who could have guessed that they were still unable to escape from the enemy's demonic clutches in the end? Could it be that they were really about to die here today?
As Qiao Ting and the others could not help but be swamped with despair, the imperial operator hovering in the air suddenly spoke, "Both teams, Listen well. As long as you can kill everyone in the other team, then you will have earned the right to continue living. Otherwise, I will personally take action, and at that time, no one from either team will be spared."
Qiao Ting's pupils contracted at these words. He had not expected the imperial mecha to have brought the other team over here because he wanted to see them fight among themselves. Although he was unsure who exactly was piloting the other ace trainee mecha, there was no doubt that the members of that team were cadets just like them.
The two teams were originally trustworthy comrades from the same side who could entrust their backs to each other, but now they were being forced to fight each other to the death ...
Did he really have to kill them? Qiao Ting's heart was conflicted — if there was any hope of surviving, of course he did not want to die. He believed that his team of 13 would definitely be able to obtain victory against the other's group of 6, because aside from the one ace mecha, the other 5 in the other group were only advanced mecha. Meanwhile, on Leiting's side, other than his own ace mecha, the others were all special-class mecha. Whether it was in terms of numbers or level of mecha, his team had the absolute upper hand.
But for the sake of survival, were they really going to kill their own schoolmates, their future comrades? Qiao Ting shivered violently. He could not imagine staining his hands with the blood of companions. If he truly did so, how would he be any different from an inhuman beast?
"There are things a person must do, and there are things a person must never do!" "Since you've already decided to be a mecha operator, you must be prepared to sacrifice yourself." Instructor Tang Yu's austere voice rang out suddenly in his mind's ear, and Qiao Ting jolted to awareness.
Yes, if they really did as the imperial operator said and chose to fight to the death among themselves just to survive, even if they were fortunate enough to survive in the end, their beliefs and principles would have been ruthlessly crushed in the process.
Qiao Ting's gaze turned from confusion to clarity, from hesitation to determination ... finally, after several seconds of silence, Qiao Ting spoke up to say, "I refuse!" Although Qiao Ting was extremely proud and self-assured, and loved to be in control — a genius who could stoop to some dirty means in order to achieve his objectives — he would never trade a comrade's life in order to ensure his own survival.
Qiao Ting's resolute refusal made a trace of admiration flash across Ling Lan's eyes. His refusal was equivalent to giving up on his own life. No matter how one looked at the situation, Qiao Ting's side was sure to win if the two teams fought.
Qiao Ting's words made the members of his team cry out in shock, but they very quickly settled down again. Perhaps the imperial operator's suggestion had indeed caused the hearts of some of Qiao Ting's members to waver, but when Qiao Ting firmly refused, though they felt a little disappointed, they were mostly more relieved.
If Qiao Ting had chosen to kill the other team, it might really have been possible for all of them to survive, but they would certainly have been mentally and spiritually tormented after the fact. They may even have had to worry whether, one day in the future, Qiao Ting might also sell them out for his own benefit.
Qiao Ting's words caused the imperial operator's eyes to turn cold. Furious, he raised the gun in his hand and aimed it at Qiao Ting, sneering as he said, "You actually dare to refuse me?! I am very angry. In that case, let me start with you!" That said, he pulled the trigger and a powerful beam was fired from the muzzle.
Seeing this, Qiao Ting quickly operated his mecha to evade, but the speed of the other's attack was extremely fast. This speed greatly exceeded the shooting speed of an ace mecha's beam gun, taking Qiao Ting slightly off-guard. Despite trying his best to dodge, he still only managed to move the vital points of his mecha out of the danger zone. Just as the shot looked like it would hit Qiao Ting's left leg, a whirling giant metal sword suddenly appeared before him, perfectly placed to block that beam attack.
There was a loud 'boom' and the giant sword clattered to the ground. At this time, the giant sword no longer looked anything like a giant sword. Though the giant sword, which was several times sturdier than the outer shell of a mecha, had managed to block that beam, the immense power behind it had still melted the giant sword down into a large metal block. Some tiny holes could even be seen in the metal block.
The power of the beam finally dissipated, and Qiao Ting looked down fearfully at the giant metal sword which had fallen at his feet ... oh, no, now, it could only be called a large metal block; only the two ends retained some impression of being a sword. He knew that if not for the abrupt appearance of this giant sword, that attack just now would definitely have damaged his mecha. If he was truly unlucky, the attack may even have endangered his life.
Qiao Ting could not help but look towards the other trainee ace mecha with gratitude in his eyes. The other's actions had also made his stance clear — he too did not want to fight and kill schoolmates and companions.
Sure enough, Qiao Ting received a communications request from the other immediately after. Although Qiao Ting did not know how the other managed to connect to his team's commlink, it was all unimportant as long as they could communicate and confirm their partnership in fighting against the enemy.
Ling Lan briefly explained the situation to Qiao Ting, and after confirming their partnership, she turned anxiously to ask Little Four whether he had managed to contact her father.
In the mindspace, Little Four was similarly anxious, his back drenched with sweat. Knowing that his and Boss Lan's life were at stake, Little Four, who should not have known what nervousness was, actually could not control his own emotions. The core chip which gave him life once again entered a high-temperature state ...
"Boss, I'm still unsuccessful. The security procedures of the god-class mecha are too powerful; I cannot infiltrate the other's mainframe anytime soon," replied Little Four quickly, wiping away the sweat on his forehead.
"All you have to do is send a distress message to dad!" When Ling Lan heard what he said, her initially sweaty forehead instantly beaded up with even more sweat. Who knew that Little Four would make such a mistake at this critical moment, actually choosing such a difficult path. Just think, the mecha her dad was operating was a god-class mecha — if the mainframe procedures of a god-class mecha were so easy to crack, would it still be a god-class mecha?
Ling Lan's words caused Little Four to freeze, abruptly realising what a stupid thing he had been trying to do. Yes, didn't he just have to send their coordinates and the news that they were in danger over to daddy? There really was no need to actually talk to the other ...
Little Four had tried to hack into and take over the other mecha out of habit to connect to the other's commlink and communicate directly; he had completely overlooked the fact that he could have just sent a message over to Ling Xiao to ask for help ...
"Boss, I'll send the message immediately." Little Four did not dare to meet Ling Lan's eyes in his shame and frustration. Boss must definitely be annoyed with him now — why had he been so stupid? Little Four's heart was a plain of darkness — the initially bright and lovely future looked so dark and lifeless all of a sudden. He might be kicked off his number one follower's throne by Boss because of this.
Chapter 385 - Immortal Bird Ling Xiao!
Even though Little Four was in low spirits, he still sent their coordinates and the word 'HELP' over to Ling Xiao. Then, he notified Ling Lan before he fell silent.
Little Four was self-reflecting — ever since he had experienced so-called human emotions, he had no longer acted like before under his initial settings and procedures, where he served the host he was contracted to according to the rules set by the learning space. Many times, even though he was meant to obtain his host's agreement before acting, he had still chosen to decide things on his own.
In the past, it was fortunate that there had been no great problems, but this most recent mistake — just because he skipped asking his boss first, he ended up doing a stupid thing, delaying any rescue they could receive — could have ended up killing his boss ... Little Four was truly racked with guilt. He decided that from now on, he would check in with his boss more often; he could not continue acting recklessly anymore.
As Ling Lan wrapped up her conversation with Little Four, the imperial operator, having seen his attack interrupted by Ling Lan's giant sword, was instantly in a horrible mood.
"Damn, actually daring to fight back? Die!" Enraged, the imperial operator once again raised the gun in his hands, but this time, he was aiming at Ling Lan. Compared to Qiao Ting, he now hated this person who had ruined his attack even more. He felt as if his pride as an imperial operator had been violated — he needed to kill the other to let everyone know that the pride of an imperial operator should never be violated.
"Attack together!" Ling Lan naturally would not just wait around to be killed; she chose to defend by attacking. Among everyone on the field, only she and Qiao Ting could perhaps offer some resistance; sending anyone else would be a death sentence. Thus, this cry of hers was directed at Qiao Ting.
When he was up against a terrifying imperial operator on his own, Qiao Ting was perhaps at a loss due to the power gap, becoming a sitting duck due to overwhelming fear and despair. But now, with an allied peer beside him to fight alongside him, the proud Qiao Ting would never allow himself to lose against the other.
After calling out to Qiao Ting, Ling Lan instantly charged over. Her speed was very fast — she was almost by the imperial mecha's side in the blink of an eye. Even though her giant sword was gone, she still had a beam saber, which she swung viciously at the other.
On the other side, Qiao Ting leapt up at almost the same time, revving his engines to shoot up into the sky. The two beam guns on his back suddenly appeared in his mecha's hands, and Qiao Ting pulled on the triggers in a frenzy. Countless beams poured out of the two guns in an instant, raining down like a meteor shower at the imperial operator.
Facing the foolish resistance of the two, the imperial operator started laughing at the apex of his rage. "Petty tricks! You're just asking for death!" The initially hovering mecha suddenly disappeared only to appear again 30 metres away in the next second, easily resolving Ling Lan's and Qiao Ting's combined attack.
Not only that, his disappearance caused all of Qiao Ting's beam attacks to fly towards Ling Lan. Seeing his own attacks about to hit a companion by mistake, in his great horror, Qiao Ting cried out hoarsely, "Dodge!"
"What a dumb pig of a teammate!" Li Lanfeng, who was seated beside Ling Lan, could not help but grouch. Firing long-range attacks against an imperial operator specialising in long-range attacks; Qiao Ting's brain must definitely have become scrambled from being shot at.
Ling Lan said nothing; seeing the rain of beams heading for them, she did not panic. Calmly, she operated her mecha into some quick evasion manoeuvres, at the same time turning the power on her mecha's beam shield up to its maximum setting. As long as the same weak spot was not hit again, being at the same level, her ace mecha's beam shield would still be able to block these beam attacks.
Of course, Ling Lan did not plan on getting hit if she could help it. If she were hit, even if her mecha would be fine, its power would be greatly drained. And because Ling Lan had been continuously battling, her ace mecha's power was already running low. Therefore, she had no choice but to be careful and use the remaining power sparingly.
Ling Lan's mecha actually left a trail of shadow in the air from moving so quickly — the beams hurtling at her passed through the afterimages to fall to the ground, blasting dust and dirt into the air.
Just as Ling Lan evaded the shots, Qiao Ting did not even have the time to breathe a sigh of relief before the imperial operator's attacks had come swiftly and silently.
It turned out that after the imperial operator had shifted 30 metres away, both Ling Lan and Qiao Ting was now within his shooting range. Seeing those two small fishes occupied with each other, the imperial operator slyly raised the beam gun in his hands and pulled the trigger twice in quick succession.
He wanted to finish off these two small fishes in one go — he, who was an expert in long-range attacks to begin with, was a master at changing the direction of his shots without having to pause.
Ling Lan and Qiao Ting suddenly felt a deep chill penetrate their very bones — this was a danger alarm that only ace operators possessed. The both of them knew that the most dangerous moment was upon them ...
Ling Lan quickly located where the danger was coming from — perhaps spurred by the life-or-death situation, the speed of Ling Lan's fingers once again exploded forth, becoming so quick that her fingers were no longer visible. Li Lanfeng felt as if even his eyes could no longer keep up ...
Ling Lan's mecha began to spin — due to the extreme speed, many layers of afterimages of the mecha appeared. This scene flabbergasted the twelve Leiting mecha, because they knew this was the most advanced of ace mecha evasion techniques —— Shadow Slip! Even Qiao Ting could not pull off this technique perfectly, unable to execute it with such precision and accuracy.
Meanwhile, Qiao Ting swiftly moved his mecha back, raising the two guns in his hands to shoot frenziedly at that beam heading straight for him. Here, Qiao Ting's long-range accuracy was on full display. Even though his mecha was retreating at high speed, every shot from both his left and right hand struck true. When the beam was only 10 metres or so from him, it was finally completely neutralised by the beam attacks of his two guns ...
Ling Lan's evasion was effective as well. The beam heading for her brushed through one of the afterimages of her mecha to hit the ground, instantly blasting a 10-metre wide ditch into the ground. It was clear to see how powerful the beam had been — even an ace mecha would not have had fared well against it.
Looking at the responses of the two, although Ling Lan's method seemed to be more dangerous, in truth, Qiao Ting had had a harder time of it than Ling Lan. Because in that instant, to ensure that every single shot of his guns would strike the enemy's beam, Qiao Ting's mental and physical focus had been raised to their limits. Thus, as soon as he cancelled out the enemy's beam attack with the power of his own attacks, his entire body was already drenched with sweat, and he could feel that his two arms were stiff and numb.
Seeing how both his attacks had been successfully evaded by these two insignificant small fries before him, the imperial operator was almost dizzy with anger. He felt that this was a disgrace! Thus, he drew another gun from behind him. This gun's muzzle was wider than his first gun, and its rear end where the energy block should be inserted was also two to three times thicker.
When Ling Lan and Qiao Ting saw this gun, their faces changed drastically. They knew what it was — it was the most powerful long-range weapon with the largest attack scope imperial mecha possessed. When it was fired, its beams would present in the shape of a fan. Against this weapon, neither Ling Lan's evasion technique, Shadow Slip, nor Qiao Ting's power neutralization approach would work. That was because those two methods were ineffective against this type of area-of-effect weapons.
What worried Ling Lan even more was that no one knew exactly where the beams fired by this gun would go. The unknown and uncertain quality of this weapon not only put Ling Lan and Qiao Ting in great danger, it also drew the spectating members of their two teams into danger as well.
After the imperial operator brought out this weapon, a cruel smile bloomed on his lips. Right now, he no longer had any mind to play around — he only wanted to annihilate all of these cadets; only then would his bellyful of rage be appeased.
"Go to hell!" The imperial operator pulled on his trigger forcefully, firing not just once but many times. Due to the high speed, those beams actually merged into a semicircle, which charged relentlessly towards Ling Lan and Qiao Ting, as well as the other team members below them.
"Dodge!" Ling Lan and Qiao Ting shouted almost simultaneously. Compared to Qiao Ting, Ling Lan was even more anxious. After all, Qi Long and the others of her team were only piloting advanced mecha — even if they were merely brushed by these power beams, they would certainly lose their lives in the destruction of their mecha. The power behind this imperial mecha's weapon was just too strong — even an ace mecha, using all of the power at its disposal, would probably only be able to withstand one of its beam attacks, not to mention advanced mecha which were considerably weaker than ace mecha.
Everyone was evading as best as they could, but the level gap of the mecha still put quite a number of the boys into a desperate situation. Ling Lan flew with all her might towards the advanced mecha closest to her — she could not save everyone, so she could only focus on saving the member closest to her.
It could not be denied that Ling Lan's heart was tinged with regret right now. If she had known that the enemy this time was so formidable, perhaps she should have just made everyone hide within the air raid shelter ...
There was a loud 'boom' as a pale blue beam abruptly intervened, striking those scattered beams and causing them to dissipate instantly. Not only that, the power behind the pale blue beam was not whittled much by the exchange, continuing to fly through the air to hit the ground, where it then carved out a ditch of about 50 metres. Several team members close to that spot — whether it was from Ling Lan's team or the Leiting Mecha Clan — were sent tumbling by the violent tremors caused by the beam striking the ground. Those whose control skills were a little weaker were even sent flying by the aftershock.
Seeing his sure-kill attack being ruined by a measly little beam, the imperial operator's face changed. He turned to seek the source of the attack and saw a ripple appear in an initially empty bit of space in the air, and then, a large and simplistic mecha was revealed.
Behind its back, twelve majestic wings were spread out gloriously, beautiful and dazzling. A fiery red phoenix was dancing in flames on its chest, marking the operator's identity, and the golden five-star emblem on its right arm declared which nation he hailed from ...
This unbelievably familiar mecha caused the imperial operator's heart to turn cold. All top-class operators had a dossier with detailed information on all of the god-class operators of every nation. The outer appearance of this mecha and the totem on its chest ... he would never mistake it. From the country designated as the Huaxia Federation, the presumed strongest god-class operator for the next 100 years —— the Immortal Bird Ling Xiao!
The imperial operator was petrified, and other than Ling Lan, everyone else in Ling Lan's team and all of Qiao Ting's group were similarly stunned.
Chapter 386 - Li Lanfeng's Illness?
Li Lanfeng, who was sitting beside Ling Lan, looked at that magnificent giant mecha in the night sky in dazed shock, unable to react for a long moment. Reflexively, he clutched Ling Lan's arm and stammered, "Ling ... Ling ... G-General Ling Xiao!"
Seeing her father appear like a deity before her at this most critical moment to rescue everyone, Ling Lan was similarly overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement. At the same time, she was also extremely proud. See, see, this was her father! In every child's heart, their father should be the greatest. Despite having lived two lives, Ling Lan was no exception to this young daughter mentality.
However, when Li Lanfeng clutched her arm, all of Ling Lan's excitement and proud happiness fled. She frowned slightly, glancing at the large hand on her arm. Say, she really did not like others touching her body ...
Ling Lan's cold gaze swept harshly over Li Lanfeng, rife with warning, hoping that Li Lanfeng would move away his disturbing hand.
Li Lanfeng may have been too overwhelmed with emotion; typically extremely observant, he was now unbelievably dense and slow. He did not notice the great distaste in Ling Lan's eyes and continued to grip Ling Lan's arm as he gushed, "That's General Ling Xiao! He's one of our Federation's twelve god-class operators, and also the publicly acknowledged strongest god-class operator in the world. He's the mecha operator I idolise the most ... who could have guessed that General Ling Xiao would actually show up here to save us? I must be dreaming ... Rabbit, Rabbit, I'm too excited ..."
Li Lanfeng could only repeat how excited he was non-stop to the rabbit; this moronic behaviour left Ling Lan speechless. She once again peered at that large hand on her arm and then looked at the dreamy expression on Li Lanfeng's face and his obviously fanatic behaviour ... alright, in view of how much the other adored her father, she would tolerate this!
While Ling Lan was bitterly enduring Li Lanfeng's endless fanboy chatter about General Ling Xiao's greatness, on the outside, Ling Lan's team and the Leiting group were all watching that majestic mecha hovering in the air with emotional faces. Some of them were so moved that they made mistakes in their control, causing their mecha to lose balance and stumble and fall.
However, all this were just trivial things. Everyone knew that the arrival of the god-class operator General Ling Xiao meant that they were all safe now. Well, with the exception of that grandstanding imperial mecha who had been trying to toy with them.
The imperial operator was currently staring in panic at Ling Xiao's mecha; he knew he was in danger now. An imperial mecha was indeed much stronger than an ace mecha, able to bully and kill an ace mecha without too much trouble, but this only applied to ace mecha. Against a god-class mecha, his fate was exactly like if an ace mecha was up against him — there was no room at all for resistance.
When he saw Ling Xiao's mecha once again raise the beam gun in his hands emotionlessly, his expression changed drastically and he immediately activated his external speakers to shout, "Immortal Bird Ling Xiao, please do not take action. As long as you let me go, I will immediately retreat from this battle."
"Let you go? When you were fighting against these cadets, did you ever think of letting them go?" replied Ling Xiao icily. Even though Ling Xiao's reply sounded even and impassive, Ling Lan could still hear the deep rage embedded within it. That mild-mannered and kind father of hers who did not seem to understand the meaning of anger could actually lose his temper like this?
Ling Lan was very intelligent — she quickly figured out why Ling Xiao had become so angry. It was all because of her! Everyone had their own personal buttons which should never be pressed, and one of Ling Xiao's buttons was her, Ling Lan.
What a fearsome daughter-con! Even as Ling Lan sighed at the realization, a warm current flowed gently through her heart. The corners of her lips suddenly quirked upwards, cracking her typically frozen and emotionless face, and this curve was spreading wider and wider ...
Li Lanfeng's full attention had been on Ling Xiao, but when he felt the cold aura by his side suddenly turn warm, he turned around in confusion. Thus, he happened to see that once in a blue moon warm smile of Ling Lan's, and the sight was like an arrow to his heart.
"Thump! Thump! Thump!" Li Lanfeng's heart pounded heavily within his ribcage. He reflexively pressed a hand to his chest — could it be that his illness was acting up again? Ever since he had listened to the rabbit seven years ago and begun working hard on his basics, his body had been gradually getting better. The intense pain where he felt as if his heart was about to burst had also slowly lessened until it no longer acted up at all from four years ago. But today, why did he once again have that same sort of feeling?
Could it be that this was an underlying problem that would flare up when his stamina was depleted? After thinking it over long and hard, Li Lanfeng could only come up with this possibility. He hurriedly closed his eyes, no longer daring to look, repeatedly telling himself that he needed to be calm and not get too worked up. Li Lanfeng still remembered that every time his illness flared up, he would always rely on self-abuse to distract himself from the pain coming from deep within him. However, he did not want the rabbit to see this side of him. Although he knew that the rabbit would not look down on him for it, he still did not want to appear weak before the rabbit ...
Very soon, his heart stopped its wild and fierce beating, slowly calming back down. Only when his emotions had settled completely did Li Lanfeng open his eyes. His forehead was already coated in sweat — just that brief occurrence had been enough to scare Li Lanfeng greatly.
By now, Ling Lan had returned to her usual demeanour. When a change had come over Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan had immediately sensed it. She had instantly turned to retrieve a restorative agent, but when she saw that Li Lanfeng seemed to have it under control, she decided to wait and observe a little longer; no matter how good a medicinal agent was, ingesting too much of it would result in a certain degree of drug tolerance. Ling Lan did not wish for her companions to overuse medicinal agents and meet a tragic end because they were unable to achieve adequate recovery during critical moments later on.
When she saw that Li Lanfeng's condition was slowly recovering, Ling Lan relaxed. However, she was once again reminded of Li Lanfeng's fragile physical constitution. She made up her mind that, once the battle on planet Newline was over, the first thing she needed to do was to improve Li Lanfeng's physique. She could not allow her team to have a member with a frail and sickly body.
While Li Lanfeng had almost gotten himself into trouble on their end, on the outside the imperial mecha had been rendered speechless by Ling Xiao's question. Ling Xiao had never considered letting this executioner who had almost harmed his daughter go, and so was not planning to hear any explanations the other could provide. He had barely finished stated his question when he pulled the trigger in his hands without any hesitation. A powerful beam of pale blue light was fired from the muzzle of the beam gun, shooting straight for the imperial operator.
The imperial operator was startled and quickly operated his mecha to evade. At the same time, he turned on his communicator to try and contact his companion, wanting to call the other over to help. However, when his mecha's computer provided feedback that the other party was unreachable, the imperial operator knew that he was in deep trouble.
Ling Xiao was not at all surprised that this attack of his was successfully evaded by the enemy. He had not intended for this shot to kill the enemy to begin with; instead, he had been trying to get the opponent to move further away from his darling daughter's mecha.
Although there were two ace trainee mecha below, knowing his daughter well, Ling Xiao naturally knew that his daughter was most definitely piloting that close combat mecha. And that mecha just so happened to be within the attack range of that imperial mecha. Even as confident as he was, in this kind of scenario, Ling Xiao's first decision was to first save his daughter from any danger — killing the enemy could wait 1 .
At this thought, Ling Xiao could not help but shake his head in silence. If he could help it, he would have wanted his precious daughter to choose a safer long-range attack mecha. With the addition of their Divine Command Sect's spiritual power control, that mecha could definitely become a horrifying mobile attack bastion. Its formidable firepower would guarantee that other mecha would not be able to get close to it, ensuring its survival ability on the battlefield. Although this choice was off the track of becoming a god-class operator, Ling Xiao had never intended for Ling Lan to become a god-class operator anyway. This was not only because Ling Lan was a girl — physical constitution pretty much made it impossible for a girl to become a god-class operator — but more because Ling Xiao knew very well just how much pain and suffering was involved in ascending to god-class status. He could not bear for his daughter to experience it.
This shot of Ling Xiao's had indeed achieved his objective. The imperial operator had no clue that the Federation's strongest god-class operator would value an ace mecha below them so highly — if he had known of Ling Lan's identity, he would definitely have risked great injury to obtain Ling Lan as a hostage no matter what.
However, other than Ling Lan's original team members who already knew of Ling Lan's and Ling Xiao's relationship, most outsiders did not know anything about this. This once again let Ling Lan sail through a crisis safely.
The imperial operator's retreat put more distance between him and Ling Lan, and Ling Xiao's mecha once again disappeared, only to immediately appear before Ling Lan's mecha.
"You can still move, right?" asked Ling Xiao all of a sudden.
"Of course, even another fight would be fine, as long as no such monster like an imperial mecha appears," Ling Lan knew that this question was directed at her, so she instantly replied.
Ling Lan's answer obviously did not hold much awe or deference, which caused Li Lanfeng in the same mecha to be stunned once more. He stared blankly at Ling Lan, wondering how Ling Lan could use this type of attitude in responding to General Ling Xiao.
"Monster? To use this term on an imperial mecha, you think too highly of him." It was unexpected for the generally mild-mannered Ling Xiao to spout this kind of sharp and mocking words. "Let me show you how, before a god-class mecha, all other mecha are ants."
His words had barely faded when Ling Xiao suddenly disappeared from before Ling Lan and he reappeared almost instantaneously beside the imperial mecha. This was the god-class mecha's Divine Wind system in action, truly achieving theoretical instant teleportation.
The god-class mecha
Thus, Ling Xiao not only had great long-range attack capabilities, he was equally formidable in close-range combat. There was a gleam of cold light, and one of the imperial mecha's arms was sliced right off. It fell to the ground heavily, creating a shallow ditch with its impact.
"Hmm? Your evasion technique is not bad." Ling Xiao was rather surprised. He had originally intended for this sword to directly pierce the other's cockpit. He was well aware that it was completely impossible for a normal imperial mecha to escape his attack with his speed. Unexpectedly, the opponent's evasive manoeuvres had exceeded the theoretical limits of imperial mecha.
1. T/C: Yep, Ling Xiao's got his priorities straight. XD
Chapter 387 - Unfilial Daughter!
Although the imperial operator had managed to pull a distance away from Ling Xiao and evaded Ling Xiao's sure-kill hit, he was still so nervous that his head was covered in sweat. Earlier, he had thought he was going to die for sure — Ling Xiao's speed had just been too fast; he could not keep up with the other's pace at all. But right at that border of life-or-death, his anchored spiritual power had miraculously loosened and he had undergone a breakthrough. At the moment when the sword would hit him, he had managed to increase his mecha's speed by several times, dodging that sure-kill hit with the barest of margins.
However, he was still a little too late. Even though he had avoided his vital points from being hit, he was unable to avoid the attack completely. In the end, he lost the left arm of his mecha, but the imperial operator was already very satisfied with this outcome. After all, he had still managed to survive the attack of a god-class operator.
Still, the imperial operator was not foolish enough to believe that he could fight toe-to-toe with a god-class operator just because he had achieved a breakthrough in his spiritual power. Even though this breakthrough had elevated his mecha control skills by another level, making it so that he could wield all aspects of his imperial mecha even better than before, at the heart of it, he was still just an imperial operator. He had not advanced to god-class, and no matter how strong an imperial operator became, he would still be no match for a god-class operator ...
Thus, there was only one word in his mind — "RUN"! Only by successfully escaping from this god-class operator's hands would he have any future to speak of. This unforeseen improvement in his abilities made him even more eager to find a way to save himself ...
Of course, these notions merely passed through the imperial operator's mind in a split second. In the eyes of the spectators, as soon as the imperial mecha's arm had been efficiently chopped off by Ling Xiao, the imperial mecha had instantly chosen to turn and run, flying off at top speed in an attempt to escape. The imperial mecha seemed to be desperate to run away — he pulled out all the stops on his engines, and his mecha actually shot away like a beam of light, instantly escaping over a kilometre away.
The imperial mecha's flustered demeanour as he escaped shocked Ling Lan's and Qiao Ting's teams greatly. Just think — not too long ago, before Ling Xiao had arrived, how arrogant and haughty the imperial operator had been towards them, treating them as if they were merely a group of ants whose lives were his to snuff out as he wished. Unexpectedly, the imperial mecha who had frightened them so much was actually so pathetic once he was up against General Ling Xiao, only managing to resist for one round before turning tail to run.
Everyone stared fervently at the grand and mighty mecha of Ling Xiao's hovering in the air. When would they be able to reach the level of General Ling Xiao, able to scare the wits out of the enemy just by showing his face?
Qiao Ting's emotions were running high — he could not help but clench his fists. Having been called the second Ling Xiao all this while, would he be as great as General Ling Xiao in the future and become the thirteenth god-class operator of the Federation?
"I will definitely succeed!" Qiao Ting vowed to himself in silence, a glimmer of ambition passing through his eyes.
Seeing the imperial mecha choose to run away in the end, Ling Xiao could not help but snort, his eyes brimming with cold intention. If anyone could see Ling Xiao's expression now, they would certainly be shocked that the always gentle and mild-mannered General Ling Xiao could have such fearsome killing intent. Ling Xiao was not a saint — the moment the opponent's butcher knife had ever threatened the life of his darling daughter, Ling Xiao had never even considered letting him leave with his life.
The air beside Ling Xiao's mecha twisted once more and the massive mecha actually disappeared mysteriously right before the crowd's eyes. In the midst of everyone's bewilderment, Ling Xiao's mecha had already appeared a kilometre or so away to block off the imperial mecha's escape route.
With all of its engines engaged at maximum power, the imperial mecha's speed was already at the limits of an imperial mecha. Three seconds later, the mecha had already gotten several kilometres away from where Ling Xiao was. On his mecha's screens, there was no sign of Ling Xiao's massive mecha in pursuit. The imperial operator's anxious heart finally settled somewhat. Did this mean that he had already managed to escape?
However, before he left planet Newline for good, the imperial operator would not believe he was truly safe yet. The Divine Wind system of god-class mecha was a heaven-defying existence — if he did not run far enough, he would be easily caught up to by the god-class mecha using its Divine Wind system.
The imperial operator did not slow down his speed, instead pushing his mecha's engines desperately to continue powering forwards. At the same time, he did not forget to send an emergency alert to his companion, the other imperial operator remaining at the dormitory district, to tell him that Ling Xiao was here and to retreat quickly and stop bothering with those Federation troops. The imperial operator knew well that the appearance of a god-class operator meant that they had no chance of winning this battle anymore. He believed that the Empire's commander-in-chief would also agree with their decision; several thousand ace operators were not as important as one imperial operator.
Right then, this imperial operator did not know that his companion had already died by Ling Xiao's hand, that this alert he just sent would never ever be received by the other.
Just then, directly ahead of the imperial mecha, the air suddenly warped to suddenly reveal a large mecha in his path. The other's appearance was too sudden, and the imperial mecha was travelling at its top speed — the ten or so metres between them was not enough for the imperial operator to make any adjustments to his controls to alter his flight path. He could only watch helplessly as his mecha barrelled straight towards Ling Xiao's mecha.
"Bastard!" The imperial mecha knew that a collision was inevitable. A ruthless light appeared in his eyes, and he quickly turned his mecha's beam shield up to its maximum defence setting. Instead of decreasing the power of his engines, he revved them even higher, pushing his mecha's speed another notch higher to send his mecha hurtling towards Ling Xiao like a terrible metal missile.
At the last moment, the dire situation made the imperial mecha decide on an internecine outcome — even if he died, he would bring Ling Xiao along with him!
The opponent's decision merely caused a trace of derision to appear in Ling Xiao's eyes. He did not dodge, only stating calmly, "Divine Shield system!"
A tremendous 'boom' rang out as the two mecha collided head on! The intense shockwaves caused by the collision could even be felt by Ling Lan and the other cadets several kilometres away. On the screens of their mecha, the image of the two mecha colliding was played faithfully. Even though their speed was incomparable to that of a god-class mecha, the capture function of their cameras was still extremely powerful, recording this thrilling scene with great precision.
This scene caused everyone's expression to change drastically. Despite knowing in their hearts that General Ling Xiao was sure to be fine, they could not help but worry whether General Ling Xiao would sustain some injuries due to this devastating collision.
Perhaps the heavens wanted to test the hearts of these cadets even further, for before their initial worry could subside, the imperial mecha abruptly exploded. Boom boom boom! Consecutive explosions rang out and the entire night sky was instantly a blanket of smoke. Ling Lan and the rest could only see several fireballs continuing to burn within the thick smoke, which then swiftly plummeted from the skies to crash heavily into the ground.
Some of the fireballs crashed on dry grass, and very soon, the ground was aflame. From a tiny ember, the flames grew till it was a roaring blaze wreathed in thick smoke, where it then finally began to spread rapidly across the ground ...
However, right then, no one was paying any attention to the situation on the ground. Ling Lan and the rest were staring anxiously out into the air, waiting for the smoke of that imperial mecha's self-destruction to dissipate. Finally, General Ling Xiao's
All this proved that the impact of an imperial mecha's intentional collision and the force from its self-destruction was not enough to cause any damage to a god-class mecha! Everyone present could not help but be astounded at the sight — as expected of the acknowledged strongest ultimate weapon of the human world. Imperial mecha one level lower than it was nothing before it.
"So this is god-class mecha!" They all looked at the god-class mecha with impassioned eyes. All their awe and exclamations were finally condensed into this one sentence.
Very soon, Ling Xiao operated his mecha to return to Ling Lan. He slowly descended to the ground, looking down at the mecha his daughter was piloting as he did so, and his heart twinged in pain.
The outer shell of the ace mecha Ling Lan was piloting was currently covered in scars. These battle scars proved that his baby daughter had experienced several battles already within this period of time. His precious daughter who should have grown up wilfully beneath his wings, had to act like a man because of him and rely on her own skills to seek survival on the cruel battlefield ...
This was all because of his incompetence as a father! If only he had not fallen for that trap 16 years ago, then his precious daughter would not have had to live such a hard life. For the first time, Ling Xiao registered deeply that he had done something wrong. He even imagined what if he had rushed here only to find that his daughter had already met some great misfortune ... Ling Xiao could not help but shudder. He absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen, or else he would never be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life.
"General Ling Xiao, so glad to meet you!" Ling Xiao's silence made Ling Lan feel rather awkward, and she also did not want to have an emotional father-daughter reunion right here on this brutal battlefield, so she took the initiative to set the scene.
"General Ling Xiao?!" The way Ling Lan had addressed him caused all of the self-remonstration deep in Ling Xiao's heart to scatter. He felt his teeth and gums aching, wishing dearly that he could grind them against something ... was he only going to hear his daughter call him 'General Ling Xiao' after rushing here over several hundred thousand li? This unfilial daughter!
Is it so difficult to call me 'daddy' just once? Ling Xiao forcibly suppressed the urge to blurt out this question with much effort, stiffly turning it into a different question. "Hn, can you still continue to fight?" He could not bear to push his daughter; after all, he was the one who owed his daughter, having been absent for 16 years of her life. The time before them was still long — one day, he would have his baby daughter willingly call him 'daddy'! Ling Xiao vowed silently to himself.
"Of course!" Ling Xiao's question made Ling Lan sigh in relief. She had really been worried that Ling Xiao would be displeased with her form of address and expose their relationship ... alright, Ling Lan was still somewhat unaccustomed to having such an awesome and impressive dad. Sometimes, when a father was too outstanding, it was a lot of pressure on the child.
Chapter 388 - Weak!
Ling Lan's team members who knew about General Ling Xiao's relationship with their boss also knew that this father-son pair was rather strange in their interactions. They definitely did not give off the typical intimate feeling other father-son pairs did. Therefore, the members were not too surprised by their boss's impassive reaction.
Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng and Li Shiyu had no clue about Ling Lan and Ling Xiao's relationship. Even though they were rather surprised at how Ling Lan could keep so calm in the presence of the military's idol General Ling Xiao, when they considered how Ling Lan was perpetually cold and unemotional, they no longer thought anything of it. They just took it as a personality issue of Ling Lan and did not suspect anything else.
Ling Lan's calm and toneless response was followed by a beat of silence — Ling Xiao suddenly did not know what kind of attitude he should use when treating his baby daughter now. If he used the tone of a superior speaking to a subordinate, even if he could bear to do so, if his wife Lan Luofeng found out, he would definitely meet no good end ... if he acted a little more intimate, he wondered whether this would irritate his daughter, because his daughter's behaviour indicated that she did not want to reveal their relationship and expose her identity.
Ling Xiao once again felt it profoundly — it was truly very difficult to be a satisfactory father for a daughter 1 ...
Right at that moment, Qiao Ting on the other end had also operated his mecha over, bringing his faction members in tow. He came up to stand beside Ling Lan and said excitedly, "General Ling Xiao, hello. I am a 4th-year cadet of the First Men's Military Academy, Qiao Ting. It's nice to meet you." His words were similar in meaning to Ling Lan's greeting at the start, but compared to Ling Lan's cold indifference, Qiao Ting's tone of voice was obviously much warmer and more excited.
Ling Xiao turned his head to look at this ace trainee mecha who had come forwards uninvited. He knew that this must be one of the outstanding students of the military academy — mind you, for a 4th-year cadet to have already advanced to ace operator status was extremely rare, as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. And so, he operated his mecha to give Qiao Ting a nod in response.
This attitude of Ling Xiao's was exceedingly normal. Even though Qiao Ting was an outstanding cadet, Ling Xiao had seen more than his fair share of this type of talent. At his current level, Qiao Ting was not yet able to gain Ling Xiao's acknowledgement. As one of the twelve god-class operators of the Federation, one of the ten great generals, Ling Xiao's standards were undoubtedly very high.
However, having a comparison, Qiao Ting did not think so. They were both cadets piloting trainee mecha, but Ling Xiao's attitude when treating the other ace operator was obviously warmer. This made Qiao Ting feel a little unhappy; he felt he was being treated coldly. In the military academy, the instructors had high hopes for him and the other students gathered around him like stars around the moon. Thus, he naturally felt that he had the right to garner the same treatment as the other ace operator ...
Ling Xiao naturally knew nothing of these little thoughts running through Qiao Ting's mind. Right then, his daughter was the only thing he could see. If not for the strangers around, Ling Xiao would have directly pried Ling Lan's mecha open so that he could see for himself that his daughter was truly safe and unharmed. However, Ling Xiao was after all Ling Xiao. He knew that in this situation, he could not do as he wished. In order to find out his daughter's true condition, Ling Xiao decided to put a swift end to the battle.
Thus, he said, "After regrouping, head for the dormitory district immediately!" That said, Ling Xiao's giant mecha once again disappeared from the group's sight, leaving no trace behind. If not for the roaring flames left behind by the fall of the imperial mecha, everyone could have imagined that General Ling Xiao's presence here had merely been a wishful dream.
Seeing Ling Xiao leave, Ling Lan let out a mental sigh of relief. At this time, Little Four finally leapt out from the little black room he had been confined to and shouted indignantly, "Boss, you're a coward! Not even daring to call out 'daddy'! I look down on you!" It turned out that Ling Lan was afraid that Little Four would be too excited at seeing Ling Xiao and affect her emotional balance, and so had shut Little Four up in that little black room when Ling Xiao had approached her.
Ling Lan said helplessly, "This is a battlefield. It's not appropriate for me to call him that here."
"I'm not listening, not listening! You're just afraid and cowardly! Are you ashamed of having Ling Xiao as your daddy?" Little Four covered his ears, showing that he would not accept any of Ling Lan's explanations. Instead, he continued to question Ling Lan with an even angrier tone.
"How could I be ashamed of that? I'm very proud to be Ling Xiao's daughter! I'm just more afraid that I'll disgrace Ling Xiao," Ling Lan told Little Four bitterly, her expression a little lost.
The reason why she could accept the virtual world Ling Xiao was that she understood that that Ling Xiao was fake — it was only a remnant spiritual imprint. Thus, she could let her emotions run free and call the other 'daddy' without reservations, and the other's reaction was just as she had expected, immensely happy and content. And that was all — things ended there, and there was no future to worry about.
But now things were different. The present Ling Xiao was a real person. He had feelings, he possessed all seven emotions and six desires — he might accept her now with his selfless fatherly love, but he could also become disappointed in the future, and become angry and hate her ... Ling Lan was afraid that once she accepted Ling Xiao, she would become weak and start hoping for even more.
Over these past 16 years, in order to support the burden of the entire Ling family on her shoulders, Ling Lan had already learned how to be strong and independent, accustomed to handling everything on her own. Ling Xiao's return changed everything she had already gotten used to, and this made Ling Lan somewhat panicked.
What flustered Ling Lan even more was Ling Xiao's full berth of fatherly love. He displayed it so obviously, and the enthusiasm and intensity of it were so distinctly different from her father's demeanour in her previous life; her past father's eyes had always been full of fatigue and weariness. This was another reason why Ling Lan had been avoiding the issue, unable to examine her true emotions too closely.
Yes, it wasn't that Ling Lan did not want to accept Ling Xiao; she was just afraid that one day in the future, those love-filled eyes of Ling Xiao would also end up filled with distaste and weariness ... Ling Lan did not want to experience that kind of hurt ever again. It was just as Little Four had said — weak, she pushed away Ling Xiao's overflowing fatherly love again and again, even though she knew that her response would hurt Ling Xiao a little.
"Like this, can I become a daughter Ling Xiao would be satisfied with?" Ling Lan asked Little Four with a sad smile. Already trained to be a cold-blooded and ruthless killer by the learning space, she could no longer be that soft and gentle, sweet and adorable little girl in Ling Xiao's mind's eye.
Little Four was taken aback by Ling Lan's question, and then his entire face collapsed into a deep frown. He found that what his boss had said was not wrong. Already used to seeing his boss's cold, fierce, and domineering demeanour, Little Four really could not imagine her acting like a petite and sweet young miss instead. Thus, Little Four consoled her with a face full of regret, "Boss, my condolences!"
Ling Lan wordlessly flicked Little Four's forehead and then ignored Little Four's woeful eyes of condemnation. Somewhat dejectedly, she said, "I can only take things one step at a time. If ..." She did not finish her sentence. One day, if she managed to overcome the barriers in her heart, perhaps she would be able to call Ling Xiao 'daddy'.
Ling Lan very quickly gathered her emotions. Turning to check on her team, after she found that they were all unharmed, she moved to lead her team back to the dormitory district. Ling Lan knew well that her father must have already gone ahead to wrap things up there.
Just then, Qiao Ting, who had similarly finished settling matters with his team, called out to her, "Please wait!"
"Something the matter?" Ling Lan paused and turned her head to ask. At the critical moment, Qiao Ting did not choose to abandon his companions and subordinates — this had turned Ling Lan's impression of Qiao Ting favourable.
"May I ask, which year and specialization you are from?" Qiao Ting really wanted to know who this other ace operator was. Who exactly was this person who had also managed to advance to ace operator like him?
Qiao Ting's question caused Ling Lan to quirk a brow, but she did not answer.
Ling Lan's silence made Qiao Ting even more unhappy. His frustration and disappointment at being treated coldly by Ling Xiao rushed to his head and he found himself blurting out, "Do you know General Ling Xiao?" Or else why would General Ling Xiao treat you so warmly yet treat me with such cold indifference? This was the only reason Qiao Ting could come up with during this short period of time.
Ling Lan could not help but laugh at his question. No matter how cool she had tried to play it, Ling Xiao's behaviour had still raised some flags. For some reason, Ling Lan suddenly felt really happy — though initially she had not planned on answering, her good mood prompted her to ask in return, "Could it be that you don't know General Ling Xiao?"
Ling Lan's question rendered Qiao Ting instantly speechless. Mind you, in the Federation, aside from those newborn children who knew nothing, as long as one was a mentally aware Huaxian, there was no way one did not know General Ling Xiao. As such, Qiao Ting's previous question was a rather silly one.
Qiao Ting was just about to change the phrasing of his question when he heard Ling Lan say evenly, "General Ling Xiao ordered us to head to the dormitory district immediately. I think that, General Ling Xiao probably would not want us to dawdle."
Ling Lan's words caused Qiao Ting's heart to clench in fright. He swallowed his questions and looked searchingly at the ace trainee mecha before him for a moment before turning to order his faction members to head swiftly for the dormitory district.
Watching the disappearing figures of Qiao Ting's group, Li Lanfeng, who had been silent all this while, asked, "Rabbit, are we leaving it like this?" Qiao Ting's previous overbearing and impolite behaviour had seriously ruffled Li Lanfeng's feathers — though of course this was also because Li Lanfeng already had some negative bias against Qiao Ting to begin with, so all of Qiao Ting's improper behaviour was magnified endlessly in his eyes.
"We'll clash again in the future. Leiting will not forget the grudge established this year. In at most two years' time, they will challenge us again." A smirk appeared on Ling Lan's lips. Qiao Ting's refusal to act against his companions had indeed improved Ling Lan's opinion of him, but she also deeply disliked the inherently overbearing and haughty side of him.
It should be said that Ling Lan had also cultivated a robust air of dominance from her training in the learning space. However, her dominance was deeply embedded in her bones and was not waved about on the outside. As such, regarding Qiao Ting who was equally dominant, she naturally felt slightly repelled — this was perhaps the logic behind the theory of keeping kings away from each other 1 .
Ling Lan's words made Li Lanfeng recall that time a while back when the New Cadet Regiment had gone up against Leiting in an arena battle. He knew that Leiting would definitely enact their plan for revenge when the time was right, and so he said, "When it's time for the mecha fight, count me in."
Ling Lan was surprised. "Aren't you part of Wuji?"
Li Lanfeng chuckled and said, "We're just collaborators. Wuji will not be comfortable letting us external allies join them." Just like Zhao Jun, who was also excluded from the group. Li Lanfeng rubbed his jaw as he suddenly thought, ' Perhaps next year, he could also lure Zhao Jun over ... 1 '
Zhao Jun, who was currently hiding in the dormitory district, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He anxiously checked his surroundings, but other than cadets, he could only see more cadets. There was no sign of any danger at all. He scratched his head in confusion, unsure where that sense of danger had come from ...
1. T/C: It's mostly just that your daughter is a special case, although one could argue that you're quite a special case yourself, Ling Xiao ...
2. 王不见王: I kept this pretty literal as I really could not think of a better way of phrasing it. 'A king does not see another king', i.e. keeping one ruler away from another. It's basically saying one land cannot have two kings, so when kings have already established their independent domains, they should keep away from one another unless they want to declare war.
3. T/C: And this is how Leopard Li joined Rabbit Lan's human trafficking syndicate ...
Chapter 389 - Li Yinfei!
By the time Ling Lan and the others arrived at the dormitory district, the entire battlefield had already entered the end stages of clean-up. Ling Xiao, hovering in the air, was like a large mountain to the invaders, pressing down on them till they could not even breathe. On top of that, if anyone tried anything, a beam from Ling Xiao would strike them down mercilessly, killing them instantly.
This type of combat power had sapped away all the fight in the intruders. The only reason why they had not put down their weapons and surrendered yet was that they still held on to that last thread of hope in their hearts. They were praying that their fleet in space would descend on planet Newline to shoot Ling Xiao down and rescue them.
Of course, they were disappointed in the end, because the ground forces sent them the images captured by their satellite after their signal communications were restored. These images showed them that their last hope was currently under attack on all sides, surrounded by the four Federation fleets which had come to provide reinforcements, unable to even protect itself. Thus, they stopped hoping for a miracle, put down their weapons, and surrendered to become prisoners of the Huaxia Federation.
Without the help of a starship, mecha of imperial level and below had no way of breaking free of gravity by themselves to return to space. 1 Therefore, if they did not surrender, their final outcome would be to die here on the battlefield. Not everyone could view death with equanimity. Thus, when the first person laid down his weapon, everyone else followed suit, which finally marked the end of this battle sparked by an air invasion.
The ground forces very quickly took the prisoners who had surrendered into custody, and then they began clearing up the battlefield as they searched for any survivors. Meanwhile, after a brief period of panic and chaos, the dormitory district also began their own rescue efforts under the lead of the instructors. That shot by the imperial operator had caused a great number of casualties among the cadets. For a time, the entire military academy was plunged into a sad and depressing atmosphere.
The fighting on the ground had come to an end, but the fighting in space was still in full swing. The four fleets had arrived so quickly at planet Newline all because of Ling Xiao.
As Ling Xiao had piloted
This was truly a stroke of luck — as soon as Ling Xiao arrived in the space of planet Newline, he noticed countless unidentified starships and immediately knew that this must be an invasion. Ling Xiao thought of the four fleets on their way, and since he was also very worried about his daughter's safety, he decided to ignore these starships, sneaking by right under their noses to fly into planet Newline. It had to be said that god-class mecha were indeed truly frightening. They were able to completely conceal their own signals and images, preventing them from being picked up by the radars of many starships; thus, he was able to sneak into planet Newline completely undetected.
The final outcome was that the enemy starship fleet was totally annihilated under the combined attack of the four Federation fleets. Even though some of the starships managed to escape from the blockade to run from the planet Newline sector, they were chased down in a frenzy by the four large fleets.
It had to be said that the invasion of planet Newline, which was an attempt to kill off the Federation's future seeds of hope, had utterly crossed the line of all of the upper echelons of the Federation. Whether it be the government or the military, no matter which faction they were from, they all issued the kill order. Even though the factions harboured all sorts of conflicts of interests, they still shared the common goal of protecting the future of the Federation. Therefore, everyone chose the same way of handling things, and that was to use bloody means to keep the surrounding countries in line via fear, telling them that the Huaxia Federation was not as easy to provoke as they thought.
In the end, this invasion ended with the complete annihilation of the intruders. However, the casualties of planet Newline were severe enough to shock the Federation government and the military. Over half of the ground forces were sacrificed in the battle, and almost all of the various mecha squads were crippled by their losses as well. What saddened them even more was that out of a hundred thousand cadets, eight thousand had died in this battle. These cadets had all been excellent seedlings for the various military positions in the future, but before they could even debut on the battlefield, they had already lost their wings here in the military academy. This was their fault as the older generation.
For such a large fleet to have infiltrated the Federation deep enough to seek out and come to planet Newline, there was no doubt that something must have gone wrong with some departments within the Federation. The price paid in blood spurred the government and the military to no longer take things easy — the president and the three grand marshals of the military signed a joint order to clean out the spies and secret agents hiding within the ranks. Even some parasites who had disregarded national interests for their own personal gain were also cleared out in the process.
This operation was called Operation Bloodstain. The severity of the methods employed left those spies and secret agents fortunate enough to escape discovery frightened and jumping at shadows, not daring to act any further in the interim. This allowed the Federation to have unusual smooth-sailing in the subsequent battles for revenge, and the Federation quickly harvested the fruits of triumph in battle.
Of course, regarding Ling Xiao's appearance at planet Newline, military headquarters had many questions. After all, Ling Xiao should have been busy establishing the 23rd Division several thousand light-years away — why had he appeared at planet Newline at that time? However, Ling Xiao's appearance had been extremely timely, and his command to gather the four large fleets had also been extremely accurate. This had salvaged the situation, preventing the Federation from a loss of at least five generations of potential talent.
This result was a great relief and comfort to the president and the three grand marshals of the Federation; as such, the feat certainly qualified as extraordinary merit. However, they still summoned Ling Xiao back for an inquiry. When they found out that Ling Xiao had snuck into the military academy undercover out of worry for how his son was getting along in the school, they all burst out into laughter.
They laughed at Ling Xiao for being overly attached to his son, but were also very glad that Ling Xiao had rushed over to planet Newline because of that. The president and the three great marshals were well aware that if Ling Xiao had not been there, this invasion would definitely have ended up in favour of the enemy. At that time, what they would have received would have been news of the complete annihilation of the First Men's Military Academy. And the result of this outcome would inevitably have been their resignation, for only that would be able to extinguish the rage of the people.
Still, even with Ling Xiao's involvement, the casualties among the cadets had reached as high as eight thousand ... Luckily, the government's crisis unit was very efficient, adeptly turning the public's focus onto the enemy, with especial emphasis on the several thousand prisoners they had captured. When they found out that many nations had participated in this air invasion, there was an immediate public outcry. The voices of anti-war sentiment instantly vanished without a trace, and the public enlistment rate which had been steadily declining by the year increased by leaps and bounds within that month.
The president and the military were instantly relieved. Subsequently, in order to pacify the angry public, the president and the three great marshals finally came to a consensus — they gave the order to launch a full offensive on the Duolan Alliance, which was the weakest nation among the members of the invading enemy alliance the Federation had been able to identify through their investigation.
Perhaps afraid that the Federation would expose their doings and affect their grand image of being a supreme nation, the Dosa Empire 1 unexpectedly kept their silence in the face of the Huaxia Federation's attack on Duolan. Meanwhile, though the Huaxia Federation clearly knew that the primary culprit was the Dosa Empire, out of fear that the entire human world would be once again dragged into a world war as soon as their two nations clashed, the Huaxia Federation chose once more to endure this slight, determined to extract their pound of flesh from Dosa's accomplices instead.
Just when the Federation retaliated against Duolan, "Tranquil Night", a requiem for the innocent cadets who had died in the battle, spread rapidly from within the virtual world. Perhaps because the lyrics resonated with the sorrow in the hearts of the cadets and those family members who had lost someone in the battle, and also due to its sad melody which carried undertones of strength and resilience, the singer of said song instantly became the favourite singer of the academy cadets ...
Without support from the Dosa Empire, and without internal spies to leak the military tactics of the Federation, the Federation's attack on Duolan proceeded smoothly. One month later, the Duolan Alliance was utterly razed and Duolan was officially claimed as Federation territory. This victory caused the Federation to descend into wild celebration, and the lingering grief from the air invasion was significantly eased.
In the meantime, after a month's time, not only was the rage of the military and the public slowly subsiding, within the restored First Men's Military Academy, the initial grief and rage suffusing the campus were slowly fading back to calm. The anger, fright, and worry in every students' eyes were also gradually settling into calm as well, and smiles began to appear on the cadets' faces again.
"Boss, great news! Great news!" Early in the morning, Xie Yi flew down the stairs with a face full of excitement. He should have just gotten up and must not have taken the time to wash up, for his entire appearance was extremely dishevelled. Xie Yi did not notice Ling Lan scrunch up her brow slightly at his appearance as he shouted at her loudly in excitement over the breakfast table.
Ling Lan was unimpressed by his fervour. She lifted the white napkin by her side to dab at her lips before setting it down on the table. Only then did she look up to glance sharply at him.
At his boss's cold and fierce gaze and expression, Xie Yi instantly woke up from his buzzing excitement. He swiftly lowered his head, no longer daring to make such a fuss.
Witnessing Xie Yi being shut down, Qi Long, who was sitting at one side, began to snicker. Han Jijyun wordlessly nudged him, reminding him to leave Xie Yi some face, while Luo Lang threw a cold glance over at Xie Yi like Ling Lan had — whatever Boss disliked, he disliked as well.
As for Lin Zhong-qing, he did not raise his head but continued to focus on his breakfast. It had nothing to do with him after all; Xie Yi had brought this all on himself. Fine, when it was just them on their own, Ling Lan's team was not as united and loving as they appeared outside. Whenever there was a chance, the members would absolutely step on each other while they were down.
"Tell me then, what exactly is this great news that has gotten you so excited," said Ling Lan calmly when she saw that Xie Yi had been sufficiently cowed.
Hearing this, Xie Yi knew that his boss was not truly angry, and his interrupted enthusiasm reared up once again. "Boss, Li Yinfei is coming to our school!"
"Li Yinfei?" Ling Lan's brow furrowed. Who was this again 1 ?
"What?! Li Yinfei is coming? Is that for real?" Before Ling Lan could recall who this person was, Qi Long had already exclaimed in excitement, "Xie Yi, how did you find out about this?"
"Just now I went onto the academy forums, and the moment I logged on, I saw this news. Everyone is excited by it right now." Sensing a fellow fan, Xie Yi's excitement was further amplified.
Han Jijyun and Luo Lang shared a look, also unable to recall at that moment who this Li Yinfei was that had Qi Long and Xie Yi so excited.
Beside them, Lin Zhong-qing set down his chopsticks and said softly, "Tranquil Night!"
"Ah, it's her?!" Luo Lang cried out instantly. Just recently, he had also been very obsessed with this song.
1. Hmm, a tangential retcon here by the author to explain how Ling Xiao managed to get here without needing a starship. Guess we can't judge god-class mecha based on conventional mecha rules in this universe.
2. T/C: I guess the Dosa Empire has jurisdiction over Duolan.
3. This is exactly how we readers respond when a character is brought up again after a really long absence. :p That said, this Li Yinfei is a new character, so no need to rack your brains, dear readers.