Chapter 207 - 426 - 431

Chapter 426 - The Possibility of Collaboration?

Li Lanfeng's eyesight was very good; he could see how worked up and indignant those people were from here. Li Lanfeng could not help but laugh at their expressions. "It looks like the Thunder King won't be having an easy time of it for the near future. His subordinates have started to grow some ulterior motives."

"Hn." The corners of Ling Lan's lips quirked. Seeing her opponent in trouble, she was undoubtedly in a good mood, and so deigned to give Li Lanfeng a verbal response.

"This is also a result of him being too overbearing in the past, leaving no room for dissent. So, as soon as he tripped up, the dissatisfaction of all those he had oppressed is breaking out now." Li Lanfeng was rather gleeful at the other's misfortune. With a half-smile, he peered at Ling Lan and said, "I had originally thought it would be a long time before I could see the Thunder King so down on his luck. Who would have guessed that that wish would be realized so soon?"

Hearing Li Lanfeng's somewhat loaded words, Ling Lan cast an assessing glance at him and said with some realisation, "Leopard, you hate the Thunder King?"

Li Lanfeng's eyes narrowed and he was silent for several seconds before saying with a soft sigh, "Yes, I hate him. Such a proud elite. Both in terms of talent and physique, he is so outstanding that it's sickening. No matter how hard I work, I'll never be able to chase up to him ..." At this point, Li Lanfeng seemed to lose focus a little. All the reasons he had mentioned were all just surface reasons — Li Lanfeng had no idea how to broach the true reason for his hatred, that seemingly absurd reason that even he could hardly believe in ...

Picking up on the displeasure in Li Lanfeng's tone, Ling Lan thought about how Li Lanfeng had just pushed his body out of the danger zone, and she was instantly filled with understanding. She recalled how she could not help her jealousy in her previous life whenever she saw someone else with a strong and healthy body — back then, she had even cursed the heavens and hated the people around her at times. Why could they possess healthy bodies and spirits while she could only lie there in bed every day, grappling with death?

Perhaps out of sympathy for having shared the same affliction, or perhaps because she could empathize, Ling Lan felt that she could understand Li Lanfeng's complicated psychological state at this moment. Thus, she patted Li Lanfeng's shoulder consolingly and said firmly, "I believe that, in a few more years, you will definitely not be weaker than him, and you may even be stronger."

Ling Lan's actions and the sincerity and conviction behind her words warmed Li Lanfeng's heart. This was probably what the books called a bosom friend, right? Someone who would trust him without having a reason to, who would stand unwaveringly by his side no matter what happened ... Li Lanfeng felt heat run through his entire body — at this moment, the usual tendrils of cold air emanating from Ling Lan felt so refreshing to Li Lanfeng.

Ling Lan cast a dubious glance at Li Lanfeng, unsure why the other's ears had suddenly flushed so red. She started thinking back on what she had said — could it be that he had become so moved and excited by her encouragement?

It looked like the leopard was someone who liked to hear kind words of encouragement. She needed to note this down — it might be a good way to spur the leopard forwards in future. Ling Lan stroked her jaw as she thought about this.

Li Lanfeng was still very good at controlling his emotions; he calmed down again very soon. When he saw Ling Lan staring at the Thunder King and stroking her jaw thoughtfully, an idea sparked in his mind. Thinking of the change he had sensed in the Thunder King, he said with confidence, "Rabbit, are you staring at the Thunder King because you've also noticed the change in him?"

Thunder King? Ling Lan was just planning how she could heap some tough training on Li Lanfeng in the upcoming period of time to raise his physical constitution even more as much as possible when she registered what Li Lanfeng asked, and her heart clenched in shock ... cough, cough, always thinking about how she could torture her friends — it was rather inhumane of her no matter how she looked at it!

Ling Lan was afraid her dark intentions would be discovered by Li Lanfeng, so she quickly gathered up her thoughts. Switching tracks smoothly into Li Lanfeng's topic, she replied, "Hn, compared to three days ago, he is indeed a little different now."

Since the topic of conversation had turned to the Thunder King, Ling Lan began to seriously recall some of the things which had happened during the fight with him. A new idea suddenly appeared in her mind; eyes glittering, Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng seriously, "Leopard, setting aside your subjective opinions for now, objectively speaking, what is Qiao Ting like?"

Li Lanfeng frowned at her question, not really willing to answer it. However, since his rabbit had asked, no matter how much he disliked to do so, he would answer the question seriously.

"Qiao Ting was extremely forceful and overbearing in the past. Always determined to do things his way, he was rather lacking in leadership ability. The creed he lived by was the survival of the fittest, where strength determines everything, so the strong should rule. Ever since he became the regiment commander of Leiting, Leiting's power structure has basically been distributed according to strength. It should be said that this is another version of fairness and justice ... but an excellent faction should not look at pure strength alone." At this point, Li Lanfeng paused for a moment before continuing, "If we only consider strength, Leiting is the indisputable number one faction in the military academy. However, in terms of clan battles, whether it is the second faction Tianji or the third faction Wuji, who I used to be part of, those other two factions are all a little better than Leiting at clan battles. Unfortunately ..."

"Unfortunately. Tianji and Wuji are both lacking a Thunder King!" Ling Lan finished his sentence.

"Yes, we did not lose to the Leiting Mecha Clan but to Thunder King Qiao Ting," said Li Lanfeng, nodding with a bitter smile. Teamwork was indeed very important for a clan, but before absolute strength, even the strongest clan could only submit. Qiao Ting, who was forever a level higher than the others, was an obstacle which no faction had ever been able to overcome. " Thus, he was called Thunder King, and not just because he's from Leiting 1 ."

"No matter which faction the Thunder King was in, he would have been given the title of a king. If it had not been Thunder King, it would have been Sky King or Earth King." Ling Lan acknowledged Qiao Ting's strength.

"Yes. It is precisely this kind of brilliant prodigy who people look up to. But sadly, he hasn't had very good luck." Li Lanfeng laughed. Looking intently at Ling Lan, he could not hide how proud he felt. "He just had to meet you. He may be a rare talent which only pops up every hundred years or so, but I believe that you must be a peerless aberrant which only emerges every once in ten thousand years."

Perhaps Li Lanfeng's gaze was too passionate, for Ling Lan actually felt a little embarrassed. After all, some of her strength could be said to be a product of cheating, while Qiao Ting was the one who had truly fought for every bit of his achievements. Being worshipped by an oblivious good friend like this ... wasn't this just too brazen and shameless?

In fact, Qi Long and the rest also worshipped Ling Lan immensely, but because they had encountered Ling Lan, who already had a strange auntie mentality at that time, while they were so young, Ling Lan felt that she was so much older than these little brats. If she could not handle them, then that would be a horrible disgrace. As such, Ling Lan could accept the idolization of Qi Long and the other children with ease. In contrast, Li Lanfeng had joined her later on, and he had always acted extremely mature and reliable, giving Ling Lan the feeling that he was a peer. Therefore, Li Lanfeng's worship made Ling Lan feel rather flustered and uncomfortable.

Li Lanfeng did not sense Ling Lan's shyness — this was all thanks to Ling Lan's perpetual and unchanging ice-block of a face; almost no emotion could be discerned from it. He retracted his heated gaze and continued on to say, "However, though that Thunder King has superior strength, he also has quite a few weaknesses. His aloof personality and insistence to do things his way makes it impossible for him to work with others well. And on top of that, his wilfulness and methods of oppression to get his own way also lost him the support of a considerable number of regular faction members. The previous few years were all smooth sailing, so the problems between him and those below him were not obvious ... but the defeat this time has completely brought out all the hidden conflicts within the clan ..."

At this point, Li Lanfeng's expression turned solemn. "Just now when I saw Qiao Ting, I felt that this defeat may not be a completely bad thing for him. He seems to have learned some tolerance ..."

"You are very perceptive ..." Ling Lan indicated for Li Lanfeng to look out the window. Li Lanfeng saw that although Qiao Ting was being taunted and provoked by his subordinates, he did not get angry. Instead, Qiao Ting listened calmly with a stony expression. If not for the deep furrow of his brow, one could almost assume there was no confrontation between the two sides. It really seemed like Qiao Ting had learned how to be tolerant.

Li Lanfeng's brows knitted together at the sight. "As expected, Qiao Ting has grown even more. Who knows how far he'll go? With such an opponent, it looks like things will be rather troublesome."

Ling Lan's lips quirked up at his words. "Isn't it more interesting this way? Some appropriate pressure can prompt us to improve. Qiao Ting is a good rival." The Thunder King's strength may perhaps spur on the growth of Qi Long and the others, including the leopard before her — Li Lanfeng.

"However, before Qiao Ting becomes a troublesome opponent for us, perhaps there is the possibility of a collaboration." After saying this, Ling Lan stepped away from the window to sit back before her office desk.

Collaboration? Li Lanfeng ran some swift calculations in his head and figured out the deeper meaning behind Ling Lan's words. "You're saying that Qiao Ting might leave Leiting to join Lingtian?"

Li Lanfeng's mood was suddenly horrible, a great sense of danger stabbing him straight in the heart. Could it be that he was going to have yet another rival? Qi Long alone was enough to make him feel suffocated from the pressure, and now Qiao Ting, who was stronger than Qi Long, was going to come? When would he earn the right to stand by his rabbit's side and truly become Ling Lan's right hand who could be trusted and depended on?

Ling Lan cast a cold glance at him, and Li Lanfeng shuddered, crushing his wandering thoughts. "How can that be? I only mentioned the possibility of collaboration. Have you forgotten? Three months later, the All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament will be starting. This year, I do not intend to continue remaining as number two."

The All-Federation Grand Mecha Tournament was held once every three years. As per the First Men's Military Academy regulations and tradition, the battle team representing the school every time were always members from the number one faction of that year. This had also led to a frustrating consequence. Despite having assembled all the most outstanding talents in the entire Federation, the First Men's Military Academy's representative students had only performed on equal ground with the other outstanding students from the other military academies. According to Ling Lan's intel, the First Men's Military Academy had already obtained second place for seven consecutive years in the mecha tournament.

"You're saying that ... you want to break past the current faction boundaries and choose the strongest few students from every specialization in our academy as representatives?" Ling Lan's words made Li Lanfeng's eyes light up. If this move of Ling Lan's succeeded, then it would definitely be a great pioneering achievement for the First Men's Military Academy.

"Yes, since we're representing the academy as a whole, then why should only members from one faction be representatives? This is unfair for those exceptional students belonging to other factions. They have the right to shine as well in the grand mecha tournament."

"The administrators of the academy had originally intended for Qiao Ting to win first place in the mecha tournament. If they know your plans, they will definitely support it fully," said Li Lanfeng with a smile.

"I'm not doing this for them, but because I want everyone in the Federation to know that the strongest military academy is our First Men's Military Academy!" A glint of ambition shone in Ling Lan's eyes. Those rules which she disliked ... she shall destroy them personally!

1. This needs a little elaboration for you all to understand it fully. The transliteration of the Chinese characters making up 'Thunder King' is actually 'Lei-wang', with the same 'Lei' character as in 'Leiting'.

Chapter 427 - Caught Out!

After the headquarters of the number one faction was transferred to Lingtian, Ling Lan did not do as everyone thought and remain in headquarters. Instead, she passed on everything regarding Lingtian and the new headquarters to Wu Jiong, and then continued on with her usual simple classroom-dormitory two-venue lifestyle once again.

However, Ling Lan's peaceful life was about to end — the second-years' first mecha practical training lesson was finally here. Ling Lan received the time and venue for their meeting from her communicator, and then led Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi over together.

The mentor Qi Long and Luo Lang had chosen was Tang Yu, the same as Ling Lan, while the mentor Xie Yi had chosen was also one of the top instructors in long-range ace mecha. The meeting time and place was exactly the same for all four of them, so they boarded a hover car together to head to their destination.

The location of the practical training was, as everyone had predicted, that large mecha storehouse they had snuck into during the enemy air invasion back then. Today was the first practical training lesson for the mecha piloting department. Along the way, Ling Lan's group met quite a few other students headed the same way.

Once they entered the storehouse, they saw quite a number of students already waiting there. This was the junior mecha area, but Ling Lan and the rest were already advanced mecha warriors, so their classes would not be held here.

Under the envious gazes of the students here, Ling Lan's group of four moved ahead to the advanced mecha area. Once there, they saw Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, as well as the other team leaders who were already at the level of advanced mecha warrior. Of course, there were also a few unfamiliar faces who were probably promising newcomers from the other factions.

At this moment, the crowd was looking up excitedly at the tall and majestic row of advanced mecha before them. They were rubbing their palms together in eagerness, wishing they could board the mecha immediately and have a good go operating one. Although the members of Lingtian had already ridden mecha before during the enemy air invasion, they had had to be sneaky while doing so after all. Moreover, the situation that night was tense, so their nerves had been tightly strung — and the moment they had left the storehouse, they had been embroiled in bitter battle, constantly afraid that they would die in combat at any careless misstep.

Today was the day they would truly get to enjoy the joy and excitement of piloting mecha; they were that close to pouncing forwards to touch the mecha they favoured.

"Boss!" A familiar voice cried out from behind Ling Lan. Ling Lan turned in surprise. "Lin Zhong-qing, why are you here?" Lin Zhong-qing was in the Logistics specialization — according to Ling Lan's intel, the mecha practical training lessons of the students of that specialization would be delayed till their third year.

Lin Zhong-qing was also very puzzled at this moment. "I'm not sure myself. I just received a notification just now, telling me to come here immediately to report for class." That said, Lin Zhong-qing stretched out his right wrist to display the notification on his communicator.

Ling Lan glanced at it and saw that it was no different from the notification she had received. A thought struck her and she said, "It's probably a good thing."

Lin Zhong-qing smiled at her words. "Yep. When I saw you, Boss, I felt that it couldn't be a bad thing."

Ling Lan was just about to say something when her ears twitched — she peered at the excited crowd and decided to just let it go.

Several seconds later, they heard the 'clap, clap, clap' of applause coming from behind them. The group was startled and quickly turned around to look for the source of the sound. There was now a group of instructors standing behind them, and Tang Yu was in the lead, currently clapping his hands together in a slow measured pace. The clapping sounds they had heard had been produced by Tang Yu.

Qi Long could not help but blink blankly at the sight. His Animal Instinct actually had not alerted him to the presence of the instructors — it looked like the instructors' methods were truly special. Wu Jiong frowned as well. The vigilant senses he had trained from young had failed to pick up the instructors' arrival; this frustrated him.

"Ling Lan, Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, Luo Lang, and also Lin Zhong-qing. All of you follow me!" Tang Yu was the first to speak. He motioned for Ling Lan and the other five to come with him, and when Ling Lan turned her head to look back, she saw that the other students were also following the other instructors away.

Tang Yu led Ling Lan's group of six to an extremely quiet place and then said, "You six will be learning from me from now on." When he saw Qi Long and the others staring at Lin Zhong-qing with curiosity, he explained, "Lin Zhong-qing is a student I accepted under special circumstances. He will study with you all in future. I hope that you all will learn from one another and improve together."

"Yes, sir!" Qi Long and the rest answered loudly, happy for Lin Zhong-qing.

Even Ling Lan could not stop her lips from quirking up into a slight smile. For Lin Zhong-qing to have caught Tang Yu's eye was undoubtedly his luck; Ling Lan's heart lightened at this turn of events. It should be known that Lin Zhong-qing had sacrificed his passion to choose the Logistics specialization instead for the sake of the battle clan. Ling Lan had always felt rather sorry on behalf of Lin Zhong-qing — Lin Zhong-qing was extremely gifted in mecha piloting, but that talent was wasted in service of the others. Now, having obtained Tang Yu's favour, Lin Zhong-qing's future in mecha piloting was boundless.

After giving this instruction, Tang Yu instantly went into their lesson for the day. He first asked Qi Long, Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, Luo Lang, and Lin Zhong-qing to choose the advanced mecha they wanted, and then he uploaded a document on mecha controls which matched the mecha type they chose onto their communicators.

After that, he asked them to board their mecha and to work on matching their control panel to the contents of their respective documents. He requested that they swiftly learn the relevant control buttons and control stick of the mecha they had chosen within half an hour.

Seeing the five youths enter their mecha and begin studying and familiarizing themselves with them, Tang Yu then turned to Ling Lan and said, "You, follow me."

Tang Yu led Ling Lan into the deepest area of the storehouse. Ling Lan knew Tang Yu was planning to bring her into that hidden room to choose a special-class mecha to operate.

Sure enough, Tang Yu opened the secret door and walked into that hidden room to arrive at the special-class mecha area. However, Tang Yu did not stop here as Ling Lan had expected. He walked right through the special-class mecha area, going further into the room to stand before those five different types of ace mecha.

Ling Lan followed close behind him, but was silently surprised, unsure why Tang Yu would bring her here. Could it be that the other had noticed her ruse in hiding her true mecha level?

"The mecha you chose in Mecha World all lean towards close combat, but, in the real world, I hope you will choose a little more carefully. Even though close-combat mecha are extraordinarily powerful, reigning in the top ranks of ace mecha in terms of combat power, the risk of danger is correspondingly high. On the battlefield, the mortality rate of close-combat mecha is also the highest."

Tang Yu's warning made Ling Lan raise a brow and she asked in return, "In the Federation army, which type of mecha operator is the majority?"

Ling Lan's question made Tang Yu pause for a beat, a little stunned, but he soon smiled faintly and replied, "It's close-combat mecha operators."

"As you have mentioned, sir, since the mortality rate of close-combat mecha operators is the highest, then why does everyone still choose close-combat mecha?" Ling Lan continued to ask.

Tang Yu said in response, "I think you know what the answer is."

"Because close-combat mecha are also called guardian mecha. They are the first line of defence protecting one's teammates. That's why I want to guard those who have put their faith in me," Ling Lan said all this lightly, but her tone could not hide the determination in her heart.

For the sake of those childhood friends who had grown up alongside her and believed in her with all their hearts, for the sake of her little companions who did not mind sacrificing their own interests to choose other specializations in order to help her obtain the greatest advantages ... Lin Zhong-qing was one, Han Jijyun was another, and then there were the others, such as Luo Chao and the rest in the federal co-ed military academy, as well as that Li Lanfeng who trusted her and was willing to fight by her side ...

All of this trust weighed heavily on Ling Lan, so she did not dare to relax. In this world where war could break out at any time, she needed to grow strong enough to protect them all.

Ling Lan's words made Tang Yu's eyes shine with a brilliant light, a satisfied smile appearing on his lips. He had asked many other students this question before, and every student's answer had been different. Each of those answers had their own charm and radiance, but Ling Lan's answer was undoubtedly the one which pleased him the most thus far. Only by having people to safeguard would one be unafraid of sacrifice and choose close-combat mecha which were known as mecha of death.

"Since you understand the meaning behind close-combat mecha, then I'll hand this life-risking close-combat mecha to you," said Tang Yu with a smile, pointing at the ace mecha right in the middle.

"That's an ace mecha." Instructor Tang Yu's unexpected arrangement surprised Ling Lan.

"Isn't your level in Mecha World at ace operator?" Tang Yu peered at Ling Lan with a half-smile.

Ling Lan's heart dropped — having successfully deceived all the instructors and students in the academy, she had not expected to be caught out by the keen eyes of Instructor Tang Yu.

"Rest assured. This matter is only known to me and the principal. While you still lack the ability to protect yourself, the matter will stop here with me and the principal," added Tang Yu. He could understand what Ling Lan was thinking. Even though the First Men's Military Academy was tightly defended, after the enemy air invasion incident, even the principal could not be certain whether the academy would once again see another enemy invasion if the news of Ling Lan becoming an ace operator as a second-year was exposed. The principal could not take the risk, and he did not intend to gamble.

"Thank you, sir." This decision of Tang Yu's and the principal's was undoubtedly meant to protect Ling Lan. Ling Lan could feel their kind intentions and accepted it gladly, and so she earnestly thanked Instructor Tang Yu.

"Once you've entered ace level, there's nothing much for me to teach you. Every ace operator has their own unique control methods, and this depends on your own study. I won't keep you by talking any further. If you have anything you don't understand or anything that confuses you, you can come find me to discuss it. Perhaps my experience can provide you with some tips." At this point, Tang Yu could not help but smile wryly and grumble, "Who'd have guessed that there would be a student even I, Tang Yu, can't teach? Taking you in as a student gives me no sense of achievement at all."

Ling Lan could only listen awkwardly. At this time, she was immensely grateful for her ice-block face for hiding her true thoughts. It was thoroughly unexpected that Instructor Tang Yu, who was so mature and steady in her mind, would also have such a childish side to him; her impression of him was crumbling.

Tang Yu did not know that his image in Ling Lan's mind was in jeopardy — he asked Ling Lan to board her ace mecha and study on her own. Just like he had said, at ace level, he did not have anything much to teach Ling Lan. And so, he left the hidden room. Compared to Ling Lan, the other five outside was a greater concern for him.

Hence, Ling Lan was left alone to research control methods that would belong to her exclusively. In the meantime, Qi Long and the rest were pushed into gruelling trials and tribulations — every day, they were tortured by Tang Yu till they were half-dead. However, the results were excellent. Not long after, Qi Long's hand speed gradually increased till it was infinitely close to special-class operator level, and his operation began to show signs of Qi Long's unique style — Brutal Violence.

Chapter 428 - Dwotong and Tianji!

The days passed by amidst the hard work everyone invested in their studies, and three months were over. In these three months, it had not all been smooth sailing. The newly established Lingtian Mecha Clan which also managed a reversal to become the number one faction had constantly been the centre of attention for all the cadets. Unsurprisingly, the Lingtian Mecha Clan received two more challenges during this time from other factions in the academy. These challenges were respectively from the number four faction, the Dwotong Mecha Clan, and the number two faction, the Tianji Mecha Clan.

The Dwotong Mecha Clan was the first to step out and challenge Lingtian after Lingtian's defeat of Leiting. The moment this challenge fight was initiated, there was a great upheaval within Dwotong. It should be known that, in the Dwotong Mecha Clan, there was a portion of members who were students of the Doha Central Scout Academy. Also, the Lingtian Mecha Clan just so happened to be a mecha clan which consisted primarily of students from the Doha Central Scout Academy, while the four main regiment commanders were all from the Central Scout Academy. In contrast with Dwotong which gathered students from all scout academies on planet Doha, the 'purer' Lingtian Mecha Clan gave these Central Scout Academy students a greater sense of relatability.

Thus, when Dwotong issued its letter of challenge this time, the seniors in the faction who had graduated from the Doha Central Scout Academy were infuriated. They rose up in indignation and demanded that the regiment commander of Dwotong would take the initiative to give up on this challenge. Unfortunately, the current regiment commander of Dwotong, Gu Jinxing, who had succeeded Zhang Jing-an, was not from the Central Scout Academy. He rejected the demand without any hesitation — this move thoroughly enraged the members who had graduated from the Central Scout Academy, and the conflict among the members began to intensify. Dwotong began to break apart from within.

When the challenge against Lingtian was just about to start, the seniors who had graduated from the Central Scout Academy made a move which flabbergasted all the cadets — they collectively withdrew from the faction. This move reduced Dwotong's numbers by almost one-fifth, also causing Dwotong to fall to the dusty depths from their position in the top four. Both in terms of numbers and strength, Dwotong was now pretty much equivalent with the other middling factions.

Meanwhile, those Central Scout Academy students who had left Dwotong unsurprisingly all joined the Lingtian Mecha Clan. This boosted the strength of the Lingtian Mecha Clan greatly, and those other factions which had still considered Lingtian's success a consequence of sheer dumb luck at the start now no longer dared to underestimate them.

" Gu Jinxing ... Jinxing, cautious-action, caution in acting 1 — Gu Jinxing really does not live up to his name." Zhang Jing-an, who was currently devoting all his attention into his enlistment applications, broke out into a cold smile when he heard the news from a member of his battle clan. He said, "Ling Lan's group is not so easy to deal with. He is really quite stupid, actually completely oblivious to the other side's tactic."

Zhang Jing-an's words confused his clan member. Seeing this, Zhang Jing-an could not help but shake his head, sigh, and say, "Our Dwotong is lacking a good strategist. It's likely that even Wuji, Tianji, and Leiting have seen and understood what Lingtian was doing. Timely provocation combined with emotional investment, and then by pushing things to a head, under this entire series of calculation, Dwotong can be considered done for. That fellow Ling Lan ... his methods are as vicious as ever. Either he does nothing, or else once he acts, it's like a thunder strike. This kind of person is very scary as an opponent ..."

His team members were rather disgruntled. "Even so, our Dwotong is overall still stronger than Lingtian. Our Dwotong has over two thousand members, while Lingtian won't have even a full thousand even if they add in those members of ours who quit to join them ... our Dwotong still has the better chance of winning in the challenge fight."

Zhang Jing-an chuckled dryly. "How can it be that simple? I can bet with you that the final outcome will be Lingtian's victory." This fellow Ling Lan had never ever lost before ... unless he gave up on purpose.

Just as Zhang Jing-an predicted, the final victor was the Lingtian Mecha Clan. Even though Dwotong's regiment commander Gu Jinxing had learned from Leiting's example and gave up on the elite 12-man team format to choose the 50-man mecha battle, Dwotong's fate was even worse than Leiting's. At least Leiting and Lingtian had fought till both sides had only one man left standing. At the time Dwotong's team was completely eliminated, Lingtian's side still had seven people remaining.

The remaining seven included all the four regiment commanders without exception, and the two senior special-class operators Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng. No one was overly surprised that these six had remained till the end — after all, the strength of these six had already been acknowledged by the cadets. What truly surprised the audience was the seventh survivor on Lingtian's side. It was not one of the team leaders of the various battle clans in the Lingtian Mecha Clan, nor was it any of the primary fighters in the various battle clans. It was one of the secondary fighters in Ling Lan's battle clan — that enchantingly beautiful, delicate and slender Luo Lang.

But when they thought back on Luo Lang's performance during the fight, everyone could see how reasonable it was for him to have survived. When Luo Lang got into the groove of fighting, he was extremely tenacious and was also willing to be ruthless at the same time, not only towards others but also towards himself. Many times, when he was forced into a disadvantageous situation, just as everyone believed he was sure to lose, he would fight his way out with frighteningly explosive combat power that verged on the edge of harming himself in the process. That attitude of never giving up gained the admiration of everyone there.

Dwotong's fragmentation before the battle and their defeat in the battle was a wake-up call to all those mecha clans that were thinking of taking advantage of Lingtian. Though there had been an element of luck involved in Lingtian's victory over Leiting, in reality, Lingtian's strength was not as weak as these other factions had believed. Additionally, after taking in one-fifth of Dwotong's men, it could be said that Lingtian was now fully qualified to rank among the rest of the top-line factions.

Under these circumstances, the third place Wuji silently retreated. Han Yu was wary of Lingtian's soaring power, and was also apprehensive over Li Lanfeng's scheming ways. He was certain that Li Lanfeng had a hand in orchestrating Dwotong's tragic outcome.

After much consideration, Han Yu decided to give up on this chance to represent the First Academy in the Grand Mecha Tournament. Of course, the reason Han Yu could give up so easily was that he had long heard that even if their Wuji defeated Lingtian, in order to ensure the best team represents the academy at the Grand Mecha Tournament, the school administrators would still specially arrange a fight between Wuji and Tianji. The final victor of that match would be the faction which would really represent the academy.

The academy administrators definitely wanted to choose the strongest faction in the team to represent the academy. If Leiting had not lost to Lingtian so publicly, thus preventing the administrators from enforcing any hidden manipulations, they would not have had to back down and make do with Tianji. Han Yu was a clever person — he was not willing to benefit Tianji with the fruits of his efforts.

Sure enough, after confirming that Wuji had given up on challenging Lingtian, Tianji issued their challenge. The challenge mode they chose was like Leiting, the 12-man elite team battle. However, unlike Qiao Ting's self-centred and overconfident approach, Tianji chose to send out a whole team of special-class operators as its representative, the strongest 12 Tianji had to offer.

Before the challenge fight, everyone thought that Lingtian's good fortune was about to be ended here — this time, Lingtian would lose for certain. After all, Lingtian only had three special-class operators — Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng, and Zhao Jun — and no matter how strong the others were, they were still only advanced mecha warriors. 3 versus 12 ... no matter how you looked at it, the Lingtian Mecha Clan had no chance of winning. But the results made everyone's eyes fall out of their sockets 1 — the final victor was still Lingtian. Moreover, there were two members who survived the battlefield: Ling Lan and Zhao Jun.

It should be said that this challenge fight was not as one-sided as everyone had assumed. Even though nine of Lingtian's members were advanced mecha warriors, those nine people worked together extremely well. The battle had not started for long before they had managed to group themselves into three team formations. In comparison, the Tianji members reacted much slower — not only did they not get into formation successfully, three of their number had been taken out by Lingtian's formations not too long after the start of the battle. If the regiment commander of Tianji had not picked up on how bad the situation was and ordered all his members to retreat and regroup, Lingtian might have had even more members survive till the end of the battle.

It was only after Tianji had assembled themselves into formation that Lingtian found themselves caught in a precarious situation. The nine advanced mecha were successfully killed by Tianji, but the members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan were extremely ferocious — even when they died they did not forget to pull their enemies down with them. In the fighting, Tianji also lost two mecha.

However, even as the nine advanced mecha of Lingtian were being besieged and killed, Lingtian's one and only formation made up of special-class mecha similarly revealed its fearsome side, successfully killing off the opponent's mecha formation it encountered.

At this time, Tianji's upper hand was completely gone. 4 against 3 — although Tianji had one extra member, in this situation where both sides were special-class operators, that one additional member was not enough to decide the ultimate victor yet. In the end, the two teams simply ended up pitting blunt force against blunt force — the 7 mecha clashed in a melee battle. In order to protect Ling Lan, after he defeated one mecha, Li Lanfeng used his battered mecha to bring down another mecha in mutual destruction.

Meanwhile, Zhao Jun engaged the regiment commander of Tianji in a bitter fight with his strength as the second rank in mecha. Of the three Lingtian special-class operators left, Ling Lan, the weakest one in the audience's eyes, ended up having the easiest time of it. He fought against another special-class operator from Tianji who also was not very strong for up to several hundred rounds.

Finally, half-crippled, Zhao Jun found an opening in the other's defence and defeated his opponent. It could be said that Zhao Jun and the regiment commander of Tianji were about equal in strength — it would not be surprising for either side to win; it all just depended on who was luckier that day. And in this battle, Zhao Jun's luck was indisputably better than that of the Tianji regiment commander as he had managed to catch the other's weakness a step earlier.

At the same time that Zhao Jun defeated the regiment commander of Tianji, Ling Lan also successfully killed her opponent, clinching the final victory for Lingtian. In contrast to Zhao Jun's beaten up mecha, Ling Lan's mecha was almost undamaged, only slightly drained of power.

The spectators were very curious about this because, during the battle, Ling Lan's opponent had previously managed to land a hit on Ling Lan. When struck by mecha of the same level, even the sturdiest mecha armour would also inevitably be scarred. With this question in mind, everyone began rifling for information on Ling Lan's mecha, and only then did they discover that Ling Lan's mecha was a modified mecha.

Of course, all they could find out was the line saying that it had been modified; as for more detailed information, they could not find anything. The mainframe had to protect the privacy of its users.

However, just this point alone was enough to make the cadets think they had found the answer. They believed that Lingtian was just too lucky in having managed to recruit the modification prodigy Chang Xinyuan, thus obtaining such a tough and fearsome modified special-class mecha. As a consequence of this battle, Chang Xinyuan's reputation unexpectedly soared within the military academy ...

This was notably the first time that a mechanic who could modify special-class mecha had appeared in the First Men's Military Academy. As such, Chang Xinyuan shot to fame overnight, becoming the most sought-after person in the area. Many factions all began to inquire about the nature of the contract Chang Xinyuan had signed with the Lingtian Mecha Clan. They were hoping that Chang Xinyuan had only signed a temporary collaboration contract with Lingtian so that they would have a chance to bring this future maestro of mecha modification into their fold ...

1. 古谨行: The 'gu' character here is the character's family name, but it can also mean 'old/traditional'. The character 'jin' means 'careful/cautious', while the 'xing' means 'action/move'. Of course, as with most Chinese characters, there are other viable readings as well, but the one I've outlined is what the author is referring to here.

2. Haha, I kept this phrase quite literal. Meaning should be obvious enough, right?

Chapter 429 - Invitation!

For context, it should be known that an exceptional mecha engineer could add several layers of protection to a mecha operator's mecha. To be blunt, a mecha engineer would give mecha operators better rates of survival — this was why outstanding mecha engineers were enthusiastically sought after by mecha battle clans, making them hot pursuit targets of all battle clans.

However, everyone was destined to be disappointed. Annoyed by all the attention, Chang Xinyuan simply announced that he was already a fixed member of Lingtian. That meant that unless the battle clan he was in was destroyed, it was impossible for Chang Xinyuan to transfer to a new battle clan.

Tianji's defeat rendered the academy administrators completely speechless, and it also made all the other factions which were already wary of Lingtian even more apprehensive. Lingtian's defeat of Dwotong could still be said to be a confluence of luck and circumstances in Lingtian's favour, but their defeat of Tianji was achieved through a straightforward show of strength. The number of mecha experts within Tianji was just slightly less than that in Leiting — even the number three faction, Wuji, had had no choice but to collaborate with Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun to compete with Tianji; it was clear to see how deep Tianji's power reserves went.

Yet, it was precisely this kind of mecha clan, one that even Wuji found difficult to deal with, which had lost in such a clear-cut manner to Lingtian. This was absolute proof that Lingtian was not a mecha clan which was surviving by luck; Lingtian had truly risen by its own power.

********

Planet Southcrest:

In the Strategic Planning Division of the 23rd Division, He Xuyang 1 , who had secured the position of head adviser to General Ling Xiao, unexpectedly received an invitation letter from his subordinates. When he opened and read it, a slight smile appeared on his face. He did not detain the invitation as he would typically, instead sliding it smoothly into the pile of documents to be sent over to General Ling Xiao for perusal.

This move surprised his deputies. It should be known that there were almost over a dozen of these kinds of invitations every month, but General Ling Xiao had long ago instructed that they should refuse all of them. The workload involved in establishing the 23rd Division was massive — General Ling Xiao just did not have the time and leisurely mood to deal with these sorts of boring gatherings or events.

"This ... will it be okay?" When the second adviser Tong Zhiying 1 saw He Xuyang pick up the stack of documents with the invitation within it, ready to go to General Ling Xiao's office, he could not help but ask and give a cautious reminder. Even though General Ling Xiao was always extremely friendly and affable, Tong Zhiying, as He Xuyang's partner, did not want to see him commit any mistakes that might cause him to be reprimanded by General Ling Xiao.

He Xuyang smiled at Tong Zhiying and explained, "This one is different ..."

Tong Zhiying's heart clenched and he quickly nodded to show he understood. He did not ask any more questions, but turned his gaze back onto the document in his own hands. Those who had managed to climb up so far to get to a position like his were all very cautious and discreet people — they knew not to casually ask about secrets they should not know.

He Xuyang's smile deepened — this was also something he greatly appreciated in Tong Zhiying. In addition, the other was exceptionally skilled. He Xuyang was very happy to be partnered with him. However, regarding matters which concerned Young Master Lan, before General Ling Xiao announced their relationship to the public, He Xuyang decided he had better still keep everything secret.

That's right, this very different invitation had something to do with Young Master Lan. Half a month later, the highly anticipated All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament would begin. On each occasion, the commanders of every army division would receive an invitation card to attend and view the grand tournament. The 23rd Division, as a newly established standing army, had also received an invitation this year.

And the reason He Xuyang treated this invitation so seriously was that he had heard General Ling Xiao inadvertently bring up the topic a few days ago. He had mentioned that Young Master Lan, who was only in his second year, had already created history in the First Men's Military Academy. He had led his clan in a victorious upset over the original number one faction in the academy and had then moved on to successfully defend his faction's new position, thus clinching the representation rights for this Mecha Grand Tournament.

An excellent adviser needed to understand the mind of their leader. He believed that General Ling Xiao would definitely want to observe his son's outstanding performance with his own eyes. General Ling Xiao should be extremely willing to see this invitation letter.

"Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong!" Ling Xiao, who was focusing intently on a document in his hands, heard the alert of the door and softly called out, "Enter!"

The voice-activated door opened automatically following Ling Xiao's call, and He Xuyang strode through it holding a tall stack of documents.

Ling Xiao saw that great stack of documents in He Xuyang's hands and kneaded his forehead in consternation, saying, "Why are there so many documents every day? Are you all slacking off and bringing all sorts of nonsense documents to me as well now?"

He had clearly instructed his men to only bring those extremely critical and vital documents to him for approval — all other documents could just go to his three chiefs of staff to deliberate and decide on.

He Xuyang speechlessly put the stack of documents down on General Ling Xiao's large desk. Recalling the documents piled up as high as a mountain on his own office desk, He Xuyang said sullenly, "General, our Strategic Planning Division is so filled with documents that we hardly have anywhere to stand anymore. If you still have any complaints at this point, don't blame all of us in the Strategic Planning Division for going on strike!"

He Xuyang's words reminded Ling Xiao of the cluttered and hectic environment of the Strategic Planning Division — everyone there worked as if they were fighting a war. Ling Xiao could not help but shudder just thinking about how dizzying the constantly shifting environment was over there. Fine. He Xuyang's threat had a lot of weight behind it — if the Strategic Planning Division really went on strike, his 23rd Division was sure to be dead in the water 1 .

Thus, Ling Xiao could only point at those documents and ask, "What are these documents?"

"These are the letters of appointment we've drawn up for the latest batch of officers. Please review them. And this is the proposal to set up a Special Forces team ... after collective discussion, the Strategic Planning Division has decided that it is necessary to have one. Also, this one is ..." He Xuyang handed over the documents one by one, explaining their contents as he did so. In the end, he took out an invitation and said, "This is the invitation for a special guest viewing of the Mecha Grand Tournament. They want to know if you will be attending, General."

Ling Xiao's head was already spinning from the great stack of documents earlier. He did not hear what He Xuyang said clearly, only catching the words 'invitation', so he quickly spoke up to refuse, "Like before, refuse them all."

However, He Xuyang did not take back the invitation card as Ling Xiao had expected, instead opening it and placing it right on top of the document Ling Xiao had been looking at. This move stunned Ling Xiao who did not know how He Xuyang could be this daring ...

But Ling Xiao was well aware that He Xuyang would never do such an audacious thing for no reason. Thus, doing so, he had to have his reasons. Consequently, Ling Xiao turned his attention to that invitation:

"Respectfully inviting the commander of the 23rd Division, General Ling Xiao, to attend the 279th Military Academy Mecha Grand Tournament. The time will be ..."

"The Military Academy Mecha Grand Tournament will be starting in just half a month?" said Ling Xiao as he lifted the invitation, his face filled with pleasant surprise.

"That's why I wanted to ask you, sir, if you would be attending," said He Xuyang helplessly. He still remembered how General Ling Xiao had specially disguised himself and went undercover as an assessment officer to sneak into the First Men's Military Academy last year just to see Young Master Lan. Now that there was an officially endorsed chance to see Young Master Lan, he just could not believe that General Ling Xiao would be able to let it go by.

Sure enough, General Ling Xiao replied firmly, "Attend, I must attend! And I'll bring my wife with me."

He just knew that this invitation was special! He Xuyang nodded calmly, replying that he would return a letter of confirmation to the military. Only then did he sedately bid farewell to General Ling Xiao and take his leave.

Hmm, perhaps he should also take a vacation and go with General Ling Xiao to the Mecha Grand Tournament. Speaking of which, he had not seen Young Master Lan for almost half a year ... that icy youth who had such a distinctly different aura from General Ling Xiao and yet was equally charismatic. The chief of staff He Xuyang thought to himself as he walked out of General Ling Xiao's office.

********

At this moment, Ling Lan, who was deeply engrossed in her close-combat ace mecha training, had no idea that her old man had already decided to attend the Mecha Grand Tournament, or that he would bring her mum along as well to meet her. After close to half a month of operating and researching with a real mecha, Ling Lan now finally understood that operating a real ace mecha was not so simple. Real-world operation was still somewhat different from operation in Mecha World — ultra-difficult mecha moves that could be executed smoothly in Mecha World were not so easy to pull off in the real world due to the limitations of her physical body.

Of course, this was not to say that Ling Lan could not do them — however, after she executed those moves, Ling Lan's body would incur varying degrees of internal damage. Ling Lan felt rather helpless on this matter. The difference between the physical constitutions of men and women, which she had never taken to heart initially, had finally reared its ugly head when it came to ace mecha operation. Ling Lan had cultivated a tough constitution almost on par with Qi Long's through the use of countless gene agents and practice of her Qi exercises. And yet, a flaw had still been exposed during ace mecha operation.

"It looks like the physical differences due to gender are not so easily resolved." No wonder there were no female mecha operators who managed to climb to the top in this world — the difference in gender also meant a difference in physical endurance; a female's body was still a little weaker. Ling Lan knew that if she wanted to progress further and advance to imperial level, or even that supreme god-class level, she would need to find a way to break through the limitations of her body. Otherwise, everything would merely be empty talk.

"Maybe, this is what Instructor Number One was talking about, because my body is incompatible with the Dao I've chosen to walk. Perhaps when my body and my Dao become compatible, then the physical issues restricting my progress will no longer exist." Ling Lan had this feeling in her heart. Even though she was rather anxious inside, Ling Lan knew rationally that hurrying was pointless. To solve these issues, she needed a serendipitous chance. Unfortunately, this chance was not so easy to come by.

"Beep, beep, beep!" While deep in thought, Ling Lan suddenly heard her communicator ringing. She opened the device and glanced at it, and found that it was actually Wu Jiong calling her. Surprised, she accepted the call and immediately heard Wu Jiong yelling on the other end, "Boss Lan, are you free?"

Glancing at the time displayed on her mecha's screen, Ling Lan saw that it was already a little after three o'clock. Considering that there wasn't much time before class would end, she said, "What's up?"

Wu Jiong received the implicit permission to go on and said, "If you're free, Boss, I'll call all the team leaders of the battle clans in the regiment, as well as all the outstanding student members of the various major specializations in the regiment to come to headquarters for a meeting ..."

Ling Lan frowned and asked, "A meeting?"

As if picking up on the displeasure in Ling Lan's tone, Wu Jiong hurriedly explained, "Boss, could it be that you've forgotten that, yesterday, the school administrators have already handed over the representation rights of the Mecha Grand Tournament to our mecha clan? Qi Long, Li Yingjie and I have discussed things at length yesterday and think that it is very hard to determine who should be the representatives, so we want to open a meeting and brainstorm together."

1. Recap: This character was first mentioned in chapter 197. He was the officer who was assigned to Ling Xiao after he became a general. He accompanied Ling Xiao when he went home for the first time after returning from the dead.

2. This character is new.

3. i.e. unable to function or move; inoperable

Chapter 430 - Target for Collaboration!

"So it's about this matter ..." Ling Lan thought of her original decision, and so she said, "That's fine. Inform the rest. Tonight at six, we'll have a meeting." It was about time for them to know what she was thinking.

"Alright, Boss Lan," replied Wu Jiong happily, pleased at obtaining a concrete time. They only had one week to confirm their name list of a hundred people. Even though that was not a lot, to choose among all the exceptional talents of all the various specializations in the academy who would also be willing to join Lingtian ... Wu Jiong still felt the time was a little tight.

Very soon, night came, and Ling Lan arrived at the headquarters of Lingtian. She had just stepped through the doorway when one of the reception staff in the main hall of headquarters saw their regiment commander arriving. He reacted swiftly, charging over to the elevator as quick as he could and attentively helped Ling Lan press the button to call the elevator.

Ling Lan nodded gently at that member in thanks, and when she saw the doors of the elevator open, she stepped into the elevator and turned around to press the button for the floor she wanted to go to.

The elevator doors had barely closed when Ling Lan, with her exceptional hearing, heard excited voices piping up outside, "Heavens, I've finally seen the legendary first regiment commander! Boss Lan is just too cool!" This was obviously a member who had just joined Lingtian; the older members would certainly have seen Ling Lan before.

"Lil' An, you are just too goddamn fast. Actually getting the chance to interact with the boss close up!" said another member, tone jealous as he looked at the youth still standing by the elevator doors.

"Big Brother Lou, did the regiment commander nod at me just now ...?" That person standing by the elevator did not seem to be able to trust what he had seen; his tone was filled with dreamy wonder.

"Yes! Boss Lan is very cold, you know? And he actually responded to you this time. You're really such a lucky devil ..." said the one called Big Brother Lou enviously.

"Yeah, yeah, we all saw it! Boss is so cool and so cold ... just a glimpse of him is enough to give me chills. But he actually nodded to you ... you're so lucky!" All of the members in the hall were filled with envy-jealousy-hate — they could barely restrain themselves from beating up that obviously over-excited fellow. D*mmit, why had they been just that beat slower than him?

The ruckus in the hall made Ling Lan sweatdrop — she had never expected her simple polite nod to create such a stir among these members. Could it be that she was usually too aloof?

Ling Lan was unaware that, because she had always thrown all the matters of the faction to the other three regiment commanders to handle, she did not appear in front of others very often. The chances were infinitesimal for a regular faction member to see her — this had made her the most mysterious regiment commander in the minds of the faction members. Furthermore, she had led Lingtian to create one miracle after another which had also made her become the idol of her faction members; thus, the regular faction members could not help but be thrilled to catch sight of her.

As soon as Ling Lan neared the doors of the conference room, she could hear how noisy it was inside. The atmosphere seemed to be very lively. Ling Lan shoved the door open and saw that all of the upper ranks of Lingtian were already here. They were all seated around the conference table, engaged in lively discussion, and some were even bantering playfully with those they were familiar with. Catching movement at the door, the members in the room collectively turned their heads, and when they saw that it was their regiment commander Ling Lan, the room instantly fell silent. Subsequently, they all quickly stood up from their seats, bowed their heads, and shouted, "Boss!"

Ling Lan found herself sweatdropping — even though Qi Long and the others had always called her Boss, they were the little companions who had grown up beside her. They had only started calling her that as a joke, and now they merely continued calling her that because it had become a habit over time which was why she had just let it be. But in the present, these team leaders were all people who had joined their group later on — some of them were even members who had only joined the group after they had entered the military academy. Being called 'Boss' by so many people gave Ling Lan the strange impression that she was the head of a heinous and deplorable mafia group!

"Just call me 'regiment commander'. You don't have to call me 'boss'." Ling Lan decided that she needed to fix the group's skewed perspective and salvage her glorious regiment commander image. As she said this, she swept a cold gaze tinged with threat around the room in hopes that everyone would not make the same mistake in address again.

Perhaps the threat in Ling Lan's gaze was too intense — under Ling Lan's forceful stare, the members once again lowered their heads and replied, "Yes, Boss!"

Ling Lan was speechless — did this really count as agreement?! Why were they still calling her 'boss'?! Ling Lan looked at the three people who were standing by the door to welcome her. Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie were working partners, so she could not pressure them; thus, she turned a fierce glare on Qi Long, hoping that this fellow would be sharp enough to figure out what she wanted and get everyone to change their form of address and call her 'regiment commander' instead. She had established a mecha clan, not a mafia society ...

Qi Long bore the brunt of his boss's mean glare and asked tentatively, "Boss, can we start the meeting?"

Fine, Qi Long, you're strong. Actually not folding to my threat ... I'll deal with you when we return! Ling Lan gnashed her teeth silently, though she only nodded coolly on the outside.

Seeing Ling Lan nod, the group let out silent sighs of relief. It could not be helped. The pressure of Boss Lan's gaze was just too formidable ... Qi Long was still the man! Everyone secretly cast respectful gazes at Qi Long. Meanwhile, Qi Long surreptitiously wiped the sweat from his forehead. Thinking about it, over this recent period of time, Boss's force of presence had become even stronger — even he who spent so much time by Boss's side was feeling the pressure.

Ling Lan walked into the conference room under the accompaniment of the three boys. Qi Long rushed one step ahead to pull out the chair at the head of the conference table and invited Ling Lan to sit. After Ling Lan took her seat, she swept another cold gaze over the high-ranking members in the room before saying, "Sit!"

"Yes, Boss!" Receiving Ling Lan's order, the group sat. However, the atmosphere at this moment was no longer as raucous as it had been before Ling Lan entered the room. Instead, there was a still silence.

Ling Lan's gaze swept across the room and she found that other than the team leaders of the various battle clans and the four regiment commanders, Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were also in attendance as the strategists of Lingtian. Li Shiyu, as the dux of the Military Medicine specialization, and Chang Xinyuan, as a prodigious mecha engineer, were also here. Meanwhile, as the primary offensive force of Lingtian on the surface, Zhao Jun had also been specially invited to join the meeting.

Lin Zhong-qing was the note-taker for the meeting, responsible for taking the minutes and keeping track of the agenda; he was sitting slightly behind Ling Lan. As for Luo Lang and Xie Yi, they were pitifully delegated as tea-boys, making sure to keep the cups of the people attending the meeting filled ...

All in all, everyone in her battle clan was here in the conference room, with no exceptions ... Ling Lan cast a pensive look at Wu Jiong.

Seeing Ling Lan's eyes turn to him, Wu Jiong coughed and said, "Since Boss is here, let's officially proceed with the agenda of the meeting. Yesterday, the administrators of the academy have officially announced that the representation rights of the Mecha Grand Tournament this time will be given into the full responsibility of the Lingtian Mecha Clan. All of us know that though the Mecha Grand Tournament is known as the Mecha Grand Tournament, it is actually a competition with multiple events which span almost all of the specializations in the military academies. However, our mecha clan has just been established, and a majority of our members are second-years. Not only are our members spread thin across the various specializations, even if we manage to scrounge up enough talent from all the specializations, those members also would not have four years of learning experience. For them to handle these competitions is likely impossible ..."

Wu Jiong's words made the hearts of all the battle clan leaders sink. Li Yingjie then added to what Wu Jiong had said, "The representatives for the last tournament was the Leiting Mecha Clan. Even a mecha clan with such a long history and substantial reserves had chosen to give up on several of the less popular specializations when they composed their representation name list, because they did not have any members in those specializations within their faction ... that said, because Leiting had an overwhelming advantage in a few of their strong suits, despite giving up on several events, Leiting still managed to obtain second place in the end. If our results are terrible this time, I'm afraid our Lingtian will become the common target of hatred for all the cadets in the academy."

Everyone understood what Li Yingjie was implying. Although the First Men's Military Academy was always rife with internal conflict, all the cadets attached great importance to the reputation of the military academy. If Lingtian suffered a great defeat in the tournament this time, not only would the popularity and prestige Lingtian had earned this past three months through the challenge fights be wiped away, in future, Lingtian would not be able to develop well after as well. Lingtian may even fall apart due to this and become a mecha clan which only lasted for one year in the military academy.

Seated right after Qi Long were the Lingtian strategists Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun. Li Lanfeng saw that everyone was mute, so he concluded the topic by saying, "I have here a listing of all the events in the mecha tournament. I'll pass it out to everyone and you all can take a look." After saying that, Li Lanfeng passed out the document. He then waited for everyone to at least skim through it once before continuing to say, "Frankly, some of the smaller events are not very important. The really essential event is the last one. This event contributes half of the point value for the tournament. It can be said that, if we manage to win this event, even if we don't obtain first place, second place will be certain."

Li Lanfeng's words drew everyone's attention to the final event. That event was listed as — Integrated Team Battle Royal!

In the Integrated Team Battle Royal, each team would have 120 members participating. The representing teams from all military academies in the Federation would be placed on the same map to fight it out in a time-limited battle royal. The time limit would be set as 3 days, or 72 hours.

Li Lanfeng continued his analysis. "This battle royal does not only challenge a team's combat power. There will be all kinds of sustained damage, double-crossing, schemes and manipulations aplenty. It can be said that the tactics will be endless — the 120 members of each team will not be from just one specialization. The team will be an amalgamation of all the specializations, thus representing the strength of the military academies in its truest sense. It is precisely due to this reason that the First Men's Military Academy has come in second for seven consecutive tournaments. Everyone knows that the specialization distribution of the First Men's Military Academy's representative team is too narrow and focused. Our academy basically only sends mecha operators."

"From the looks of it, to get good results, just relying on us alone is impossible," said one of the team leaders of a battle clan under the Lingtian Mecha Clan.

"Yes. For a 120-man team, it would be best for there to be 5 strategists to coordinate operations." Han Jijyun confirmed what that team leader said and elaborated, "And right now, the only people in Lingtian who can hold the position of strategist are Li Lanfeng and myself. We're lacking three more people. To win the tournament, we must gather a whole set of 5 people."

"Unfortunately, for the role of strategist, as soon as any sign of a person who can take on such a role reveals itself, some mecha clan will whisk them away. To start looking now will probably be very difficult," said Gao Jinyun with a deep frown. "Could it be that we'll have to steal one from the other mecha clans?"

"Even if we want to steal someone, the other mecha clans won't let them go." A team leader by Gao Jinyun's side immediately shot down that idea.

"Not stealing, but collaborating!" said Ling Lan abruptly.

Wu Jiong said dubiously, "Boss Lan, you mean for us to collaborate with the other mecha clans?"

Ling Lan nodded and said, "Yes, send out invitations to all the major mecha clans. We'll draw the talent we need from them and carry out a school-wide collaboration! And our first target will be Thunder King Qiao Ting!"

Everyone in the conference room was stupefied by Ling Lan's words. Collaborate with Thunder King Qiao Ting? Had they misheard?

Chapter 431 - Goading Qiao Ting!

Thunder King Qiao Ting had been having a hard time lately. Even though he knew that he would certainly receive some flak after his defeat at the hands of Lingtian, he had not expected the impact of the defeat to be so significant. He was so affected by it that he could hardly bear it.

Those vice regiment commanders of Leiting who had been so reverent to him before were now flippant and disrespectful, blatantly and subtly conveying their wish for him to abdicate his position on his own. Even those major battle clan leaders he had personally cultivated had also begun to be disobedient behind his back. In the eyes of the regular members, Qiao Ting had even perceived some discontent and distrust.

Was losing such an unsalvageable catastrophe? Qiao Ting was a proud person — since Leiting could no longer abide him, he simply resigned from his post as the regiment commander of Leiting. If not for the fact that he still wanted to represent Leiting to fight against Lingtian again next year and wash away this debt of shame personally, he definitely would have quit completely and left Leiting ...

However, Qiao Ting did not expect that things did not end with his resignation from the post of regiment commander. Very soon, a rumour spread across the campus, saying that while he had been the regiment commander of Leiting, not only had he oppressed the talented juniors in his faction, keeping them from being able to shine, he had also abused his authority to practise nepotism. The rumours also said that he was very high-handed, completely suppressing all views which opposed his own, causing the Leiting Mecha Clan to be constantly filled with anger and resentment.

Under the purposeful instigation to spread the rumours, Qiao Ting's reputation continued to fall. Now, every time Qiao Ting stepped outside, he could feel the scornful gazes of the people around him, many of which were also tinged with schadenfreude.

Qiao Ting was not a stupid person. After some quick investigation, he found out that this was the handiwork of the current regiment commander of Leiting. Qiao Ting did not feel much anger, only some disappointment. In order to completely supplant him, the other had actually employed such an underhanded method. How could someone like this lead Leiting to greater heights? Thinking about that cold regiment commander of Lingtian's with his outstanding abilities, Qiao Ting began to fear for Leiting's future.

At the thought of Ling Lan, Qiao Ting's feelings were extremely complicated. Not only because of his defeat at Ling Lan's hands, but also because of Ling Lan's ability to subdue her subordinates. Ling Lan's actions and behaviour were actually very much like his own, domineering to the extreme — and yet, his own subordinates were only loyal and obedient on the surface, having their own private schemes and plots in secret, while those other regiment commanders of Lingtian were serving under Ling Lan whole-heartedly. Regardless of any mistakes Ling Lan may commit, or however great the losses those mistakes may cause to Lingtian, Qiao Ting believed that those regiment commanders would only blame themselves for their shortcomings and not harbour any resentment towards Ling Lan.

Was this the difference between a king who had created his own kingdom and a king who was only defending the kingdom his predecessors had handed down? Truth be told, Qiao Ting was very envious of Ling Lan. He envied how the other could make decisions so wilfully, never ever being checked by anyone. In contrast, even at his most glorious hour, he still had to bend and compromise for the sake of the larger picture. If possible, Qiao Ting too wanted to be like Ling Lan and be a king who had forged his own kingdom, with everything within his control.

Qiao Ting did not know that although Ling Lan was the first regiment commander of Lingtian, Ling Lan had always been a free-rein general who had left everything in the faction to be handled by the other three regiment commanders. This attitude of absolute trust 1 was also the main reason why Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the others were so loyal in their support of Ling Lan ... since you trust me so, I will return it a hundredfold.

Despite the rumours circulating around the campus, Qiao Ting carried on as usual. When his mecha group training was over, he led his battle clan to the canteen for food. As soon as he entered the canteen, as other times before this, the noisy canteen abruptly fell silent before bursting into susurrations of whispered discussions. Many people began hissing into another's ear 1 — the heat of the rumours around Qiao Ting had not dissipated yet.

With his sensitive hearing, Qiao Ting naturally could not avoid hearing some of those rumours about him. However, having already heard much prior to this, he was now immensely calm. Expressionless, he strode into the large canteen, found an empty table, and sat down.

"Boss Qiao, let me bloody go teach them a lesson." One of the members of Qiao Ting's battle clan was not as calm. Face filled with indignation, his fists were clenched in anger as he asked if he could go educate those juniors who did not know how to respect their seniors. Knowing Boss Qiao well, they knew that a majority of the rumours flying around were false.

"What's there to teach? This world, has always been a world where the winners reign. Since I've lost, it's normal to be laughed at," replied Qiao Ting calmly. In the past, he had always been arrogant and domineering, but because he was standing at the peak, even if there were those who disliked him, they would keep it concealed and not show it outright. But now, he was a tiger who had tumbled down from his mountain — it was perfectly normal for those people who were dissatisfied with him to take the opportunity to stomp on him a few times. If he became angry at all the people who did so, he would not be able to continue living properly. Qiao Ting smiled self-deprecatingly. These three months had smoothened out some of his sharp edges; he now knew how to reconcile things with himself.

"So what? Boss Qiao, you're still the strongest mecha operator in the academy!" Prevented from venting his frustration on those students, the team member could only sit down huffily as he grumbled.

Qiao Ting did not say anything. So what if he was the strongest mecha operator in the academy? Everyone could only see his current sorry state now — when would they even think about the strength he possessed? It was funny to think about: an ace operator like him actually being laughed at and mocked by these weaklings who were not even special-class operators themselves. However, it did not matter anymore. As long as he could endure past the Mecha Grand Tournament, the enlistment for army divisions would open up. When his battle clan passed the assessment, they would be able to leave the military academy, and then everything here would no longer have anything to do with them.

Perhaps because the gazes of everyone were just too irritating, Qiao Ting's battle clan had no interest in lingering. After scarfing down their lunch, they prepared to leave the canteen. The group had just reached the door when a large group of people streamed in. The one at the head of the group was a cold-faced youth in a white uniform. It was Ling Lan shrouded in cold air.

How Ling Lan became the dux of her specialization for the second-years was actually quite a funny story. As she had been absent from all the physical conditioning courses in her first year, Ling Lan was actually not qualified to become the dux. In the end, Qi Long, who had the best grades, was chosen to be the dux, but Qi Long immediately went to meet the instructor and declined the position. This was because he did not think he could beat his boss. After the first-ranked Qi Long rejected becoming the dux, the instructors had no choice but to offer the position to Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the rest, in order of their ranking. Unfortunately, Wu Jiong and the rest also refused to become the dux ...

In the end, all of the top-ranking students had refused the position, because all of these students were members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan. If their own boss did not become the dux, how would they dare to take the position?

This caused the instructors of the second-year Mecha Piloting specialization to be teased by the other instructors, laughing at how no one was willing to be the dux of the second-year Mecha Piloting specialization. This annoyed the instructors of the Mecha Piloting specialization, and so they made a shocking decision. They threw the treasured position of dux to Ling Lan who had no achievements to her name. Since all those students believed that Ling Lan was deserving of the dux position, as instructors, who were they to refuse?

In this manner, Ling Lan became the only student to become dux without any actual results, once again making history. Even though this was history that Ling Lan had had no intentions of making.

When Qiao Ting saw Ling Lan, his footsteps paused. The two of them drew closer, and just as they were about to brush by each other, Ling Lan suddenly halted, and Qiao Ting reflexively stopped as well.

The two of them faced each other. This unusual scene caused the entire canteen to fall still and silent. Everyone had their eyes pinned on the doorway, unsure what would occur between Ling Lan and Qiao Ting ...

"Senior Qiao, how have you been recently?" Ling Lan was the first to speak.

Qiao Ting smiled coldly, asking, "Why? Are you here to laugh at me as well?" Senior Qiao? It looks like the other already knew he was no longer the regiment commander of Leiting.

"What is there to laugh about, Senior Qiao?" asked Ling Lan with a raised brow as if completely clueless as to what Qiao Ting was alluding to.

Qiao Ting did not reply, but his expression turned even colder. He was the hot topic all over the academy right now — it was unbelievable that Ling Lan truly did not know anything about the rumours.

"It's so rare for our academy to produce an ace operator. I really don't know what there is about you, Senior Qiao, for others to laugh about," said Ling Lan casually, completely ignoring the stony expression on Qiao Ting's face.

Ling Lan's words made Qiao Ting's gaze narrow. He peered intently at Ling Lan's eyes, trying to discern the true meaning behind Ling Lan's words. Unfortunately, Ling Lan's eyes were clear and untroubled, extremely calm — there was no hint of anything untoward within them.

Since he could not tell what Ling Lan was plotting, and because Qiao Ting did not want to play around with Ling Lan, he asked directly, "You specially stopped here not simply just to chat like this with me, right? Speak, what do you want?"

Ling Lan did not bother with courtesies either; she stated her purpose outright, "Senior Qiao, I would like to collaborate with you."

"Collaborate?" Qiao Ting was both stunned and amused. "You think that we can still work together?" Having pulled him down from his pedestal in the clouds and ground him into the mud, causing him to lose all face ... this person actually dared to suggest a collaboration? Did he, Qiao Ting, look like an idiot?

"Why not?" asked Ling Lan brusquely.

"You tell me, would I help a person who has made me lose everything? Do I look like a fool?" asked Qiao Ting, livid.

"Help me? Senior Qiao, you think too highly of yourself." Ling Lan's countenance turned dark, and the temperature in the canteen instantly dropped by several degrees, causing everyone to shiver.

"If it's not helping you, are you saying that it would be helping myself?" said Qiao Ting with a sneer. Unlike the others, the cold air emanating from Ling Lan did not affect Qiao Ting at all.

"Exactly so!" said Ling Lan bluntly.

Qiao Ting's eyes narrowed into slits, a dangerous breath of aura rising up from him. These absurd words of Ling Lan had indeed enraged Qiao Ting.

"If we become the champions of the Mecha Grand Tournament, it will definitely be very beneficial to your development in the army. Senior Qiao, shouldn't you consider collaborating this once?" Ling Lan was not at all afraid of Qiao Ting's rage; she calmly stated her stance.

As soon as these words were out, all those who caught what they had said could not help but inhale sharply. They looked towards Qiao Ting, waiting for his answer. If it were them, they would not be able to resist this temptation ...

Taken aback, Qiao Ting was silent for several seconds as if pondering the deeper meaning behind Ling Lan's move. Not long after, he asked, "Why me?"

Ling Lan responded evenly, "I do not want to continue being the perpetual number two. Since this is a matter concerning everyone in the academy, why should Lingtian shoulder the entire thankless burden ourselves?"

Ling Lan's words rendered Qiao Ting briefly speechless, but Ling Lan had not expected to receive an immediate answer from Qiao Ting anyway. She said, "There's still five days' time. I hope that you can give me a good answer in the end." Done speaking, Ling Lan moved to pass Qiao Ting.

At this moment, Qiao Ting suddenly asked, "If I don't accept?"

Ling Lan swung her head around and her gaze pierced right through Qiao Ting, making his heart clench.

"Could it be that after losing once, Senior Qiao has lost his ambition and drive? Or perhaps, you're afraid that you will lose in the Mecha Grand Tournament as well and lose face in the outside world too?" A trace of disdain pulled on the corners of Ling Lan's lips as she said this pointedly.

Qiao Ting's eyes narrowed again at these words, rage blazing in his eyes. It looked like Ling Lan's words had aggravated him.

"Me? Afraid of losing? Ling Lan, are you looking down on me?" Qiao Ting bit out word by word. From his tightly clenched fists, it was clear to see that he was indeed furious.

"In that case, it's settled!" Ling Lan's brows lifted up as she replied with a half-smile. And with that, she led the Lingtian members into the canteen.

The members by Qiao Ting's side waited till Ling Lan's group had moved further away before saying ecstatically, "Boss Qiao, that's awesome! This is a great chance. If we can become the champions of the Mecha Grand Tournament, when we return, there definitely won't be anyone who would continue nattering on about us. Even when we enter an army division, this result would gain us the attention of the upper ranks of the military."

Qiao Ting smiled wryly and shook his head without responding verbally to the member who had spoken.

That member's expression changed. "Boss Qiao, can it be that you're planning to refuse?" But this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Qiao Ting sighed and said, "No, I'm just frustrated that I fell for Ling Lan's goading. That punk ..." Unconsciously, he had let the other grasp the initiative, and he himself had jumped into the trap accidentally.

At Qiao Ting's words, the member thought back on the earlier conversation and came to a realisation.

Qiao Ting turned his head to look at that dazzling cold youth — he believed that for as long as the other was around in the academy, the position of number one faction would never fall to another. Leiting was likely to have difficult days ahead of them in the future.

********

After Ling Lan's group left Qiao Ting, they immediately walked upstairs and entered a private room. Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, and the rest were already waiting there. After Ling Lan had taken her seat, Li Lanfeng said with a smile, "Congratulations on obtaining Thunder King Qiao Ting."

Ling Lan glanced at Li Lanfeng, and her penetrating gaze almost wiped the smile from Li Lanfeng's face. Li Lanfeng's smile dimmed as he asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"Hn. Don't smile if you don't feel like smiling." Ling Lan frowned slightly. "Too fake." Why was Li Lanfeng acting like this? Recalling that Li Lanfeng had mentioned hating the Thunder King before this, Ling Lan consoled him by saying, "Leopard, Qiao Ting is just working with us. After the collaboration ends, we will still be rivals. We will never be friends."

At these words, Li Lanfeng instantly broke out into a true smile. Ling Lan sighed softly — this was how Li Lanfeng should be, like the normal Li Lanfeng. It looked like Li Lanfeng really hated the Thunder King — who knew what had transpired between them in the past ... Ling Lan decided to let Little Four investigate the matter.

"Why did you choose to goad him?" Regaining his usual composure, Li Lanfeng piped up to ask. Earlier, due to this goading tactic, Qiao Ting's depressed mood had lifted considerably. Once Qiao Ting bucked up, he would definitely grow rapidly — for them who could only be his opponents, Qiao Ting's accelerated growth was extremely disadvantageous.

"With a rival like this, won't it be very interesting?" Ling Lan's eyes glittered. "Besides, I think, for an exceptional ace operator like the Thunder King to grow up as soon as possible, it should not be a headache for us, but for our enemy nations!"

Li Lanfeng jerked and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. His eyes were shadowed and hard to read. In the end, he sighed and said softly, "Rabbit, I was wrong."

Even if the Thunder King could be that destined king of his, how could he plot and scheme to destroy the other just because of that?

"Rabbit, train me hard! I want to become strong!" Li Lanfeng's eyes blazed with fighting spirit. The corners of Ling Lan's lips curled upwards. The way he was right now was just like the leopard of old ...

1. 疑人不用用人不疑: I really like this saying, but it doesn't translate well literally into this context. 'Don't use anyone you suspect, and if you use someone, don't suspect them'.

2. 咬起耳朵: The chinese version is cute. Literally, 'biting another's ear'. Just imagine speaking so close into another's ear that you are almost biting on it.