267-273

Chapter 267: Transferral of Treatment!

Translator: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr

Li Yingjie was still secretly wondering what the heck was going on when Li Shiyu said to the staff member monitoring Li Yingjie's healing pod, "Help me open up this healing pod!"

"This ..." The staff member looked dubiously at his team leader, not daring to obey immediately. Even though Li Shiyu was the dux of the military medical research specialization, thus being like half a leader to them, this matter was related to the treatment of a student, so the staff member did not dare to move recklessly.

Seeing this, the team leader hurried to explain, "Dux Li, this student is currently undergoing treatment. If we interrupt the process now, it might affect the final recovery time."

At these words, Li Shiyu raised his right hand and turned on his communicator to carefully enter some information, then said, "Don't worry. I've already requested to take on Li Yingjie's treatment from the military academy. Very soon, you all should receive the transfer procedure request here."

As the dux of the military medical research specialization, Li Shiyu had the right to request primary responsibility over the care of any patient. Of course, the military academy would still hold responsibility over the two students. The administration would keep track of the entire treatment process, circumventing any possible harm that could occur to either of the involved parties. Either side that committed any fault would be strictly punished by the military academy.

Hearing Li Shiyu's explanation, the team leader relaxed. Very quickly, the team leader received the transfer order, and so instructed the staff member to stop the treatment process of the healing pod and open the pod.

This out of the ordinary event drew the concern of the other first years waiting in the treatment centre. They all gathered close, and upon seeing the healing pod suddenly being opened, their expressions changed. One of the students was Xie Yi, who had accompanied Li Yingjie here for treatment under Ling Lan's orders. Enraged, he asked, "What do you all think you're doing? Don't you know that interrupting treatment will affect his recovery?"

The team leader rushed to explain, "This student will be transferred to the Military Medical Research Centre for treatment. You all can relax. The treatment and medicinal agents there are several times better than those we have here. Not only will his injuries not be affected, he might even be able to recover even earlier."

Xie Yi peered dubiously at Li Shiyu and the others — would these people who were obviously seniors be so kind and benevolent? Xie Yi could not be blamed for overthinking things. After all, they had just had a confrontation with the seniors of Leiting. According to the update they had received from a member who had rushed over from the arena, Boss Lan had just defeated the top fighter of Leiting, officially winning the wagered fight. It could not be excluded that the people of Leiting might turn to anger from their shame, and take the opportunity to do something underhanded while they still had not received direct orders from those in the upper ranks.

Seeing this, Li Lanfeng smiled and explained, "We're from the Wuji Mecha Clan, and this is Dux Li from the military medical research specialization. If you understand how our military academy is run, you'll know that the military medical research specialization is never involved in the conflicts among the various factions."

As military doctors were the holy ones who treated the sick and healed the wounded, they needed to treat all patients objectively without any bias. Thus, whether it was within the military academy or within the actual military, military doctors were absolutely not allowed to be involved in any conflicts among the various factions. This was because once a military doctor was involved, they could not guarantee that their heart would remain pure. Especially on the battlefield, if a doctor hesitated or wavered due to their patient being from a different faction, it could result in a death, and this was something the military could not condone.

From the start, Xie Yi was a news-gatherer, a busybody — he knew what the senior across him had said was not wrong. If the other was really from the military doctor specialization, he could certainly relax, for the other would definitely not do anything bad to Li Yingjie. As such, he acquiesced, but he still kept a close watch on Li Shiyu and his group. The moment he detected anything odd, he would make sure to prevent them at first notice from harming Li Yingjie.

At this time, Xie Yi was still rather simple and naive, not knowing that military doctors were people too. They experienced the full gamut of emotions just like any other person, and especially towards those particular people whom they loved and hated in equal measure, even if they would treat them dutifully, they would still find all manner of ways to 'torment' the other. And despite how these torments were actually also beneficial to the patient, it went without question that there was not a single patient who would be willing to accept such treatment if they had been given a choice.

As the healing pod was completely opened, the healing fluid inside the pod was suctioned out at the same time. Very soon, Li Yingjie's body was revealed, and several seconds later, the uniform he was wearing was blown dry — it was as if he had never been immersed in healing fluid.

At this moment, Li Yingjie finally found the chance to speak. He asked, "Second elder cousin brother, why are you here?"

"Hmph, why can't I be here?" Li Shiyu harrumphed coldly. Facing Li Yingjie, he did not have the same patience he had when dealing with his eldest cousin brother. He found this brat here annoying no matter how he looked at him.

Li Yingjie was instantly left speechless. He found that he was indeed a great idiot for asking this question. Li Shiyu being here, dressed in the uniform of a dux no less, naturally meant he was a student of this military academy. And being able to be a student of the First Men's Military Academy, of course meant he had passed the admissions tests. Could his brain have been injured when he had been struck previously?

"Fine, that was a stupid question. I should ask, what are you doing here? Are you here to laugh at me?" Li Yingjie stared unhappily at Li Shiyu. His relationship with his second elder cousin brother was not very good; he would not be so self-deluded to think that his cousin was here to be chummy with him.

"At least you are self-aware, wise enough to know you're a joke. Yes, I'm here to lecture you. Performing so terribly on the stage, you've really disgraced our Li family," scolded Li Shiyu, disappointed. Even though Li Shiyu had rejected the position of Li family inheritor, this did not mean he did not acknowledge that he was of the Li family. Thus, seeing Li Yingjie perform so badly, he was extremely dissatisfied.

Li Yingjie rolled his eyes at these words. How could he have forgotten that his cousin brother had an inherently venomous tongue 1 ? Whenever they met, his cousin brother would critique him till it seemed as if he were worthless. Of course, he had not wanted to just take it, constantly looking for a way to fight back. But unfortunately, the other was older than him by quite a few years, and relied on his advantage of the extra years of strength and knowledge of combat skills to suppress Li Yingjie. Thus, he had failed many times in his attempts to object, never having found a chance to turn the tables till now.

Originally, four years ago was a very good chance for him to turn the tables, but Li Shiyu had unfortunately become at odds with grandfather because he had rejected the position of inheritor, subsequently moving out of the Li family mansion. This caused Li Yingjie to no longer have the chance to meet the other to attempt bringing his revolt to the final stages ...

Li Shiyu paid no mind to whether Li Yingjie would be disgruntled by his words, instead continuing to instruct, "Later, follow me to the Military Medical Research Centre. After this, your injuries will be my responsibility."

"That's not necessary. Since I can be healed here too, why should I go there?" retorted Li Yingjie haughtily. He did not want to owe this annoying second elder cousin brother anything, and would rather suffer a little more here.

At these words, Li Shiyu's face darkened and he leaned in close, bending over to pat Li Yingjie's still immobile face within the healing pod, and said lowly, "My taking over your treatment, is already a fact. So, just give up."

Li Shiyu's dark face made the warning bells in Li Yingjie's heart blare loudly — could it be that his cousin brother was shifting his venom from his tongue to his hands 2 instead? He struggled desperately, trying to speak. Right then, an icy voice suddenly rang out from the main doors of the treatment centre. Despite the size of the treatment centre and how many people there were inside, this voice seemed to ring out by everyone's ears, clear and coherent.

"I would like to know, what in the world is going on?" From the doorway, this question signalled the entrance of a coldly dashing youth radiating a cold aura as he slowly walked into the treatment centre.

For some reason, the moment he entered the treatment centre, the entire centre's temperature seemed to drop by several degrees. Some people even felt an invisible pressure descend upon them. The initially somewhat raucous noise was abruptly silenced, and everyone's eyes were drawn and held by this youth.

It turned out that Ling Lan who had won the arena fight had arrived, and behind her were quite a few of the team leaders of the New Cadet Regiment.

Li Yingjie's initially grumpy expression instantly brightened when he heard this voice. He turned his head to look over and shouted out, "Boss Lan!"

This behaviour of Li Yingjie's made Li Shiyu's face change minutely, and the gaze of Li Lanfeng, who had been observing Li Yingjie all this while, flashed briefly. Li Lanfeng lifted his head to look in Ling Lan's direction, and his gaze became extremely solemn.

"Li Yingjie!" Li Shiyu could not hold back an angry bellow. His voice was raised quite a few decibels — it was clear to see how much rage was contained behind it. Li Shiyu was extremely dissatisfied with how easily Li Yingjie had acknowledged another as his boss, and was also sad on behalf of his eldest cousin brother. This was because he felt that only Li Mulan should be the boss of them Li family brothers. And Li Yingjie, this great big dumbass, had actually given this honourable title of their eldest cousin brother to someone else — this was something he could not forgive.

Li Shiyu's furious roar did not cow Li Yingjie, who instead had an expression filled with stubborn recalcitrance on his face. Li Yingjie was exactly like this. He was someone who, if he does not acknowledge you, no matter how much you pressure him, he would still refuse to submit. However, if you could gain his heartfelt deference, one cold glance would be enough to freeze him in his place. Right now, this personality of Li Yingjie's was out in full force, which just made Li Shiyu's rage flare even higher.

If it could be said that meeting his eldest cousin brother made Li Shiyu want to draw close instinctively, wanting to protect the other, then meeting Li Yingjie was completely the other way round. All of Li Shiyu's initial praiseworthy good temperament would completely disappear, only leaving behind roars of anger and a venomous tongue ... not once could they co-exist peacefully.

Li Shiyu and Li Yingjie glared at each other. On one side, Li Lanfeng's expression shifted minutely, but just as he was about intervene and mediate, a glacial voice rang out extremely close to him, "Why isn't my party member being treated? Can you explain this?"

Apparently, Ling Lan had already arrived by the healing pod of Li Yingjie, and was speaking directly to the staff member in charge of treating Li Yingjie.

Perhaps because she had just come straight from combat, there was still a trace of killing intent on Ling Lan's body. This intimidating aura actually made the staff member break out in cold sweat all across his forehead, unable to reply for a moment.

"Hm?" Ling Lan quirked an eyebrow, her freezing gaze driving a bolt of chill into the staff member's heart. He quickly replied, "I'm sorry, he ... he's been transferred to the Military Medical Research Centre."

"Transferred to the Military Medical Research Centre?" Ling Lan's brow furrowed, unsure what this meant. Xie Yi dashed up to her side and explained the entire chain of events to Ling Lan. Ling Lan nodded as she listened, finally getting the picture.

Once Xie Yi was done speaking, he retreated. Only then did Ling Lan turn her attention to Li Shiyu's group of four, and Li Shiyu's group instantly felt a wave of invisible pressure crashing onto them.

Li Lanfeng's gaze began to flicker once more, because he had sensed a familiar energy ... perhaps the other was really like him. This was the very first time he had ever sensed the presence of kin — his heart could not help but pound for several beats.

Chapter 268: Are You Threatening Me?

Translator: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr

Li Lanfeng's control over his emotions was undoubtedly excellent — in the blink of an eye he had regained his composure. He continued to observe coldly, keeping quiet, but mentally made a note to try and find out more about the other, to aid his future plans.

Ling Lan swept her gaze contemplatively over the four youths, and her gaze finally landed on Li Shiyu. Xie Yi had mentioned very clearly that this dux was the one who had pushed this decision through, so she said to him, "Are you the one who requested to transfer my man into the Military Medical Research Centre?"

In spite of his displeasure, Li Shiyu's good upbringing still made him nod in response, indicating that Ling Lan was right.

At that, Ling Lan raised an eyebrow and said, "I recall that, a request like that still requires the agreement of the patient being treated." After finding out about the situation, Little Four had instantly looked up all the related regulations on transferral of treatment cases. Thus, Ling Lan was now extremely clear on all the rules and procedures associated with the process — there were plenty of loopholes for her to play with ...

Li Shiyu's expression darkened, but he still replied, "I'm the dux of the military medical research specialization. As long as any patient is within the treatment centre, I have the right to designate them as my patient without requiring the other's approval." That said, he did not forget to throw a fierce glare in Li Yingjie's direction ...

The moment Li Shiyu said this, the senior year students all nodded in agreement, while the 1st year freshmen stared at one another, uncertain whether the military academy really had this rule.

Li Yingjie was rather bewildered by Li Shiyu's glare — when and how had he offended his second elder cousin brother now? Initially already irritated, he became even more disgruntled. His rage rose higher, but he still held back, only expressing it by returning an equally scathing glare to indicate his displeasure.

Although every time Li Yingjie encountered Li Shiyu, they were like primed firecrackers, ready to explode at the slightest provocation, over these many years, Li Yingjie actually knew that his cousin brother would never hurt him. Otherwise, having the full upper hand over him all these many years, Li Shiyu would not have just mocked and taunted and snarked at him with words. From the time they were little till now, there had been plenty of chances for Li Shiyu to be ruthless and do away with him completely ...

This was also why Li Yingjie had not rebutted his cousin's words, merely glaring back — he did not want to put Li Shiyu on the spot 1 .

"Furthermore, Li Yingjie is my younger cousin. As his elder cousin, giving a hand to treat him is an obligation. I can ensure that he fully recovers in almost half the time." Of course, this was based on the prerequisite that Li Yingjie had to endure through the intense agony of his body being modified and improved by the medical agents ... Li Yingjie would probably remember the experience for the rest of his life. A subtle smile appeared on Li Shiyu's lips.

These words of Li Shiyu moved all of the first year students; even those members who had still been wary of Li Shiyu cast away their doubts at this time. Li Yingjie himself was convinced, but just as he was about to say he was willing, an ice-cold gaze swept over to look at him, instantly freezing him in place, along with those words which were already at the tip of his tongue.

How terrifying! Compared to Boss Lan's cold gaze, his elder cousin's glares were really all too harmless. Li Yingjie swallowed the acceptance he had been about to utter, hurriedly ducking his head and pretending that he did not know anything.

Li Yingjie resolutely chose Boss Lan's side. Offending his elder cousin would just cause him to be cut by the other's venomous tongue a few times, or at most resulting in some minor scrapes, but if he made Boss Lan unhappy ... Li Yingjie shuddered internally. He still remembered not too long ago in the combat hall, he had seen Qi Long in a terrible state, crawling and staggering out with the last of his strength from a combat room. Qi Long's opponent that day had been Boss Lan ...

Out of curiosity over Qi Long's sorry state, Li Yingjie had asked Xie Yi, who was on friendly terms with everyone in the regiment, about it. Xie Yi had told him then that Qi Long had accidentally offended Boss Lan, so Boss Lan had decided to spar with Qi Long for a week 2 ...

And sure enough, for that entire week, Qi Long had crawled out so pitifully from the combat room every single day. Li Yingjie absolutely did not want to become the second Qi Long, so he was determined to follow Boss Lan's lead.

Obtaining Li Yingjie's cooperation, Ling Lan retracted her gaze in satisfacton. She, who had originally had a relatively so-so impression of Li Shiyu, was now looking at Li Shiyu with sparkling eyes, just like a starving fox setting its eyes on a piece of premium-grade marbled meat ... um, no, an extremely good collaboration partner.

With regards to the three people who had been heavily injured in the arena fights, Ling Lan was extremely distressed by it. This was because she knew very well that missing too many of the physical conditioning classes would affect their final physical conditioning results. If the three of them could not pass the assessment in the end due to their injuries here, even if this allowed the New Cadet Regiment to establish their foothold within the military academy, Ling Lan felt that it was rather not worth it.

This was also why she had rushed over here to the treatment centre after accepting a simple round of congratulations from the members of the New Cadet Regiment. She wanted to know the conditions of the three and their final recovery prognoses 3 . Along the way, having discovered the treatment estimations, Little Four had told her the time needed for the three boys to recover. Luo Lang would require one month, Li Yingjie two and a half months, while Qi Long would need a whole three months ... undoubtedly, the treatment time for all three of them were extremely long. This would be very disadvantageous to them in the following physical conditioning courses.

Although Ling Lan had tried asking Little Four to find a solution, Little Four's answer was that there was no way. This made Ling Lan extremely unhappy. Therefore, the moment she had entered the treatment centre to find some seniors facing off against Li Yingjie and the others, Ling Lan's mood had become even worse, causing the cold air around her to become even colder by several degrees ...

But her luck was unexpectedly great! Here she was worrying about her three followers' conditions, when someone had voluntarily walked up to her front door to offer a solution. Even in her overwhelming joy, Ling Lan had begun to work the little abacus inside her mind 4 , calculating how best to use the other to obtain the best benefits for her followers.

Ling Lan held this strange stare on Li Shiyu for a few seconds — under this creepy gaze, the initially calm and composed Li Shiyu actually found cold sweat breaking out along his back, as if he had stepped into some sort of trap ...

The corner of Ling Lan's lips quirked up, and she suddenly opened her mouth to say, "Unfortunately, he already has a clan!" Subsequently, Ling Lan, who had initially been five paces away, was suddenly right by Li Shiyu. She pressed down on Li Shiyu's shoulder with one hand and leaned in close to say softly by his ear, "Regarding the procedures and regulations on transferral of treatment, I know no less than you ..."

Li Shiyu's expression changed, but before he could say anything, Ling Lan was already back in her original position, just as if she had never moved at all. This scene caused everyone in the treatment centre to be stupefied, also causing the eyes of Li Lanfeng, who had been standing next to Li Shiyu, to narrow.

"Li Yingjie, are you willing to go with me?" Li Shiyu swiftly regained his composure, and turned his head to ask Li Yingjie. Now the key was Li Yingjie's answer. If Li Yingjie agrees, there would be no problem.

Li Yingjie had long made up his mind. Hearing Li Shiyu's question, he responded without even having to think, "I'll listen to whatever Boss Lan decides."

"Have you forgotten that you are a Li family descendant?!" Li Yingjie's reply made Li Shiyu livid once more. When had this arrogant and annoying brat become so submissive?

"No, he is still a descendant of your Li family, but he is also one of my clan members," Ling Lan interrupted to say, "You know very well that I have the right to decide everything for him."

"You ..." Li Shiyu was instantly left at a loss for words, because Ling Lan was right. Once a student joined a clan, that student would no longer be solely representing himself. Instead, he now represented the clan as well, which also meant that there were some things that Li Yingjie could no longer decide for himself.

Li Lanfeng quickly stepped in to defuse the awkward scene. "Actually, everyone here is just trying to do the best for Young Master Yingjie. Regiment Commander Ling, Young Master Shiyu is the dux of the military medical research specialization. Speaking reasonably, only Young Master Shiyu has the right to use the best medicinal agents to treat Young Master Yingjie. Thus, letting Young Master Shiyu take charge of treatment, Young Master Yingjie has everything to gain and nothing to lose."

Li Lanfeng did not wish for the two sides to fall out and become adversaries. If possible, he still wanted to collaborate with Ling Lan. Moreover, he too was worried about Li Yingjie's injuries, and he also really did not want to hurt Li Shiyu's compassionate heart filled with brotherly love ...

"I know. However, I still have two clan members who are very gravely injured. I wonder if Dux Li would be willing to lend a hand?" Ling Lan did not want to draw things out with the other either, and so directly put forward her request.

"You think ultra-effective medical agents are that easy to obtain?" Li Shiyu's expression was very dark. "If Li Yingjie were not my younger cousin, I would never have offered."

"What a good big brother!" Ling Lan lifted an eyebrow and glanced at Li Shiyu, a half-smile on her face, as if she had seen through Li Shiyu's inner thoughts. This made Li Shiyu feel somewhat flustered instantly, somewhat unsure whether he had misconstrued what the other intended ...

"What if I want you to treat all three of them no matter what?"

"Are you threatening me?" Li Shiyu's eyes narrowed, a faint air of danger beginning to emanate from his body.

The military medical students belonged to the neutral factions within the military academy; no individual or faction dared to offend them. After all, no one could tell whether they would ever be injured and fall into the other's hands. No one would play a fool with their life.

"If you want to think so, you can!" responded Ling Lan evenly, "This would depend on how much you, as a good elder brother, are willing to do for your younger brother."

Li Shiyu clenched his teeth so hard he almost shattered them. Who could have known that the boss Li Yingjie had acknowledged would be so shameless, actually using Li Yingjie as a bargaining chip to threaten him? He said resentfully to Li Yingjie, "This is the boss you want to follow? One who, for the sake of others, would be willing to sacrifice you?"

Li Yingjie's complexion shifted slightly, but very quickly returned to normal. He said, "They are my brothers too. For brothers, a little sacrifice is worth it. Besides, it's not like I can't be healed. It'll just take a little longer, just as if you had never appeared ..." The connotation of these words was that he would just pretend that Li Shiyu had never showed up, that he was willing to either share the blessing or suffer together with his brothers.

These words moved the people of the New Cadet Regiment. Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, Xie Yi, and the others all began to look at Li Yingjie with new eyes.

Frankly, Li Yingjie's reputation within the New Cadet Regiment had never been very good. After all, his character was already deeply rooted — his arrogant tone and haughty manner were rather irritating. But now, they were seeing Li Yingjie in a new light. Apparently, that annoying and arrogant punk was not a selfish person — he was in fact willing to sacrifice himself for his brothers. All this had just been hidden below that pompous appearance, unknown by others.

Hearing Li Yingjie's reply, Li Shiyu was so angry that he almost blurted out 5 : You can bloody go live and die as you like! I don't want to treat you anymore!

Chapter 269: A Twenty-four Filial Exemplars Dad!

Translator: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr

However, his eldest cousin brother Li Mulan's words surfaced within his mind. He had said before that Li Yingjie was not a bad person at heart, only being steered towards the wrong tracks by some people within the Li family. If possible, his eldest cousin brother still hoped that Li Shiyu could help Li Yingjie out, pulling him back onto the right path ...

And now, this situation was proving his eldest cousin brother right. Someone who was willing to sacrifice himself for his brothers — how bad could his heart really be? Perhaps this was an opportunity. If he could improve his relationship with Li Yingjie through this matter, perhaps he would be able to accomplish what his eldest cousin brother had wished for ...

Still, just thinking about this forced buy one get two free deal, Li Shiyu felt depressed. Just as he had mentioned previously, those ultra-effective medical agents were not things you could just pick up randomly. Even if he was the dux, requesting special restricted medical agents for three people was still a considerable challenge, requiring him to pull some strings ... honestly speaking, he did not really want to use up those connections at this time, because this was a safety line he had been keeping in reserve for his eldest cousin brother.

"Of course, if you can heal them completely within a short period of time, we, the New Cadet Regiment, including myself, will owe you one. You can call on this favour any time you like." Ling Lan was not purely pushing for Li Shiyu's help with threats; at the same time, she was also offering the price she was willing to pay. She did not want Li Yingjie to really lose this opportunity for enhanced treatment. "Of course, your request must be something we the New Cadet Regiment is able to fulfil."

"New Cadet Regiment?" A thought flashed through Li Shiyu's mind, but he soon sneered and said, "Do you really think you can guarantee the New Cadet Regiment will continue to exist?"

Ling Lan replied calmly, "There will be no problems for at least two years' time. You can choose for us to repay this favour within these two years. Of course, if the New Cadet Regiment no longer exists by the time you submit your request, I, Ling Lan's promise still stands. You can come find me." For the sake of the future of these followers of hers, Ling Lan felt that paying this price was worth it.

Li Shiyu fell silent, contemplating whether this deal would be worth it. Right then, Li Lanfeng spoke up, "Young Master Shiyu, I believe Young Master Mulan would also agree that you should treat Young Master Yingjie and his friends ..."

Li Lanfeng sighed softly, his gaze a little unfocused, and as if speaking to himself, but also as if reminding Li Shiyu, he said, "You should know, this has always been something Young Master Mulan admires ..."

Li Shiyu's heart throbbed, and holding back that surge of sour-ache in his heart, he said loudly, "Alright, I agree." That said, he pushed forth two more requests for transferral of treatment on his communicator. Several seconds later, the notifications for approval came through once more.

Seeing that her goal had been achieved, the tension in Ling Lan's heart eased and she breathed a silent sigh of relief. Very quickly, the staff members had used stretchers to send the three patients to the Military Medical Research Centre. Li Shiyu and Yun Xiu bade hurried goodbyes and left as well. After all, the injuries of the three were all rather severe — they needed to hurry back to the Military Medical Research Centre and carry out their new treatment plans.

While the treatment centre was bustling with activity, Ling Lan led her posse to depart, and as she left, she coincidentally passed by Li Lanfeng's side. Ling Lan swept a disinterested glance at Li Lanfeng, and then they brushed by each other and went their separate ways ...

This was Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng's first meeting. There was no conversation, no interaction between the both of them. Li Lanfeng might perhaps have retained a deep impression of Ling Lan, considering the possibility of a collaboration, but Ling Lan only felt that this man was pretty decent, helping her out by speaking in her favour at that critical moment ... that was all!

*********

Meanwhile, on the distant planet Southcrest, where the headquarters of the 23rd Division was stationed, there were currently over a hundred different things still waiting to be done. Lacking high-ranking officers within his division, the commander of the 23rd Division, Ling Xiao, not only had to fight and haggle with the other army division commanders to appropriate talent from their forces, he also had to work hard to smooth over those messes his own daughter was making ... such as that ship takeover incident!

Speaking of that day, Ling Xiao had been in a video conference meeting with several commanders of the other divisions. The agenda of the meeting was naturally to request support from the brother divisions in the form of high-ranking officers. Of course, these few commanders were all part of the First Marshal's faction. Thus, they were willing to help support the establishment of an allied division within the same faction. However, Ling Xiao's appetite was truly too much — all the candidates he chose were among the most exceptional officers within their divisions. This made the commanders somewhat unhappy, but they could not reject outright, and thus began these wrangling and fruitless negotiations ...

In reality, this was just Ling Xiao testing the waters by throwing out an exorbitant price — he was actually waiting for the other side to bargain with him and provide a more reasonable counter-offer 1 . Only this way would he be able to know what the baselines of the other commanders were. Of course, in order to obtain more talented people, Ling Xiao had already set his mind to grind it out with them. Mind you, to swiftly establish a mature army division, large numbers of excellent military officers were absolutely indispensable to form the backbone of the division. Once the skeleton structure was built up, filling it up with flesh and blood would be a much easier task.

This was just the first step. Ling Xiao had also sent out transfer requests for some of the still surviving members of his original team in the 7th Division. Whether it would succeed would still depend on whether the current commander of the 7th Division was willing to let them go, as well as whether those old subordinates of his would be willing to relocate here to work under him again.

However, just as the meeting had been going along swimmingly, a notification had popped up on Ling Xiao's communicator. After bending his head to glance at it, the initially smiling Ling Xiao had suddenly become serious, and the muscles of his face had even seemed a little stiff, as if he had received some great shock ...

Ling Xiao suppressed his emotions, extremely apologetic as he set a new appointment to meet with the various commanders again later on, and then he hurriedly ended the teleconference.

This behaviour of Ling Xiao's made the commanders feel somewhat uneasy, all of them wondering whether Ling Xiao had encountered some difficulty — had they went overboard in their bargaining, pushing the price down too low, thus making Ling Xiao sad 2 ? After all, Ling Xiao was still a young man who had just turned 40 years old. Ahem ahem, compared to those typical commanders who were at least 60 to 70 years old, he was indeed rather young ...

They reckoned Ling Xiao must be finding it tough — the 23rd Division sounded great in name, giving the impression that it was a regular army division, fully equipped with the various troops and facilities associated with the running of a proper division, but it was actually just an empty husk right now. The division was lacking in both manpower and equipment — everything depended on Ling Xiao himself to gather resources and seek out good staff. Those of the other military factions were all watching coldly from the side-lines, just waiting for Ling Xiao to fail. If they of the same faction did not help out, who else would come forward to help Ling Xiao?

With that thought, what mental imbalance they originally still had settled down. It was actually just giving up a few more military officers after all — Ling Xiao's request was still quite reasonable — if each division transferred one or two exceptional officers from each troop type over, it actually would not affect the various army divisions much. Even though those officers were indeed quite outstanding, there were still a lot of other outstanding officers within their ranks; they would not miss one or two ...

The commanders discussed things over in private, and ultimately decided it was better to give Ling Xiao a little face. If Ling Xiao did well, they would be well off too. Thus, when Ling Xiao reopened negotiations with them once more, the commanders had become extremely generous. Basically, whatever Ling Xiao wanted, as long as it was not too unreasonable, they would agree. This made Ling Xiao exceedingly shocked and pleased. After all, every additional competent officer was a boon to the division. This meant that he would be able to train up even more excellent troops in-house, so the 23rd Division would be able to become battle-ready as swiftly as possible.

However, in reality, those commanders were all mistaken. Ling Xiao had not encountered any great trouble, nor had he become depressed over their haggling behaviour. The reason Ling Xiao's face had become so grim was because he had been petrified by the news about his daughter ...

The fact that the First Men's Military Academy had an entrance exam was known to him. After all, he too had lived through it. He had not told Ling Lan about it because he wanted to see how Ling Lan would react — you could consider this a test a father was setting for his daughter 3 .

At most, Ling Xiao had thought that Ling Lan would lead her team to observe the proceedings coldly from the side-lines. That was what he had chosen to do when he had gone through the test in the past. Ling Xiao believed that based on the capabilities of his daughter and those companions of hers, obtaining the respect of the examiner-soldiers would be no problem ... but he would never have imagined that his daughter would be so wildly audacious that she would actually band the students on the ship together to assume control of the ship. And even more unexpectedly, she had actually bloody succeeded ...

Seeing this news, Ling Xiao chose to end his conference as soon as he could, and then ran off to laugh unreservedly at the heavens!

At this moment, he could no longer maintain his trademark composed smile. He was no longer that always smiling national idol Ling Xiao, the elegant and dashing General Ling Xiao — he was only a crazed dad taking pride in his daughter ... this was his daughter! Godd*mmit, this was his daughter! Well, alright, that was all Ling Xiao could think about. He was so proud of his baby daughter — as expected of a child of his, daring to do things even he had not dared to do ...

However, after his wild bout of laughter, Ling Xiao began to frown and fret. This lass was still smart enough to know that some of the things she did had been a little overboard, and could cause the soldiers who were testing them to be punished. Thus, knowing that she had made a mess, his daughter had sent word to her old man to help settle things for her. According to Ling Lan, having held the empty title of 'father' for sixteen years, it was about time for him to do something to live up to it ...

What an unfilial daughter! Although Ling Xiao was muttering about how unfilial Ling Lan was on the surface, he was actually very pleased in his heart, because this was the first time Ling Lan had personally asked him for help to clean up her mess. Even though her tone was not that wonderful, Ling Xiao knew that this was Ling Lan taking the first step — she was actively trying to accept him as a father ...

Understanding the deeper meaning behind this news from Ling Lan, Ling Xiao was instantly filled with motivation. He immediately passed on the task of recruiting and stealing talent over to his assistant, and then eagerly went off to clean up the mess his daughter had made.

He first used his rank as general to brush aside the punishment order for the ship's captain, and then he requested a transfer order from military headquarters to bring in the spaceship and its entire crew, including the captain, into the 23rd Division. And after that, he immediately contacted the principal of the military academy to seal off all the results of the entrance exams this time, keeping it unannounced ... Ling Xiao knew very well that once it was publicized, Ling Lan's exceptional performance would draw the attention of military headquarters, including that of the various major army divisions. This was something he absolutely would not allow.

Having done all this, Ling Xiao was still somewhat uneasy. After all, far away here at planet Southcrest 4 , it was very difficult for him to be on top of the latest news from the First Academy 5 . Therefore, he decided to personally go and check up on Ling Lan — only after he ensured there was no danger to his daughter would he be able to continue working on establishing the 23rd Division without worry.

The reason why this sort of idea would occur to Ling Xiao was that not long after this, the 5th year senior cadets would be facing their first round of application assessments for enlistment into the various army divisions, and their 23rd Division would join this assessment system of the military academies for the first time. As one of the army divisions which would be accepting cadets, he, as the commander, would have to dispatch an assessment team to assess those students who applied for enlistment to the 23rd Division.

Thus, Ling Xiao decided that this time, he would lead the team personally, though of course the assessment tasks would be delegated to his subordinate officers. His main mission would be to go check on and care for that peerlessly adorable baby girl of his ...

Ling Lan? Adorable? Only a Twenty-four Filial Exemplars dad would consider a daughter with as much cool-ruthless-dominant swag as Ling Lan to be a peerlessly adorable girl ... it can only be said that when it came to Ling Lan, Ling Xiao's judgement just could not be trusted.

Chapter 270: Setting a Trap?

Translator: ryuxenji, DRZ Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr

Concerning this order by General Ling Xiao, the high-ranking military officers already in place were extremely puzzled. As the commander, the highest ranking leader within the division, personally leading a team to oversee an exceedingly minor assessment was definitely beneath him.

Although the First Men's Military Academy was a place to revere in the eyes of the students from the other military academies, for the various army divisions, no matter how talented the students of the First Men's Military Academy were, they still would not draw too much of the divisions' attention ... the several assessments conducted every year were just a routine job to the divisions, not given any special emphasis ...

Of course, if an unmatched prodigy were to appear, the various divisions would most certainly change their lackadaisical attitude, sending out their highly capable men to lead their teams to try and snatch the student from the other divisions. If this had been the case, General Ling Xiao's decision to personally lead a team would still have some degree of reason to it. But this year, there had been no news of any exceptionally outstanding character within the First Men's Military Academy. As such, this trip of General Ling Xiao was truly not worth it in the soldiers' eyes. The general might as well remain in the base camp and continue negotiating with the other commanders for talent — he would probably gain more for his time that way.

However, these men were all people who had been transferred over from various other divisions; they were not close confidants of General Ling Xiao. And so, though they might have objections towards this unexpected decision of General Ling Xiao, not many dared to say anything. And even those who wanted to object found themselves unable to say anything when faced with that warm and kindly smiling face of General Ling Xiao ... cough, cough, cough, saying no to that smiling face really required courage and determination.

In the end, there was naturally no one who actually raised any objections; Ling Xiao extremely easily became the leader of the assessment team. This made Ling Xiao rejoice secretly — it looked like having no close confidants within the division actually had its good points ...

Of course, Ling Xiao was still rational. He knew that using his commander's status to participate in the assessment was extremely inappropriate. Thus, he concealed his name and changed his surname, and rummaged up his past major general uniform for the trip. This made the officers of the 23rd Division let out a great sigh of relief — although it was still rather ostentatious for a major general to lead an assessment team, at least it was not too illogical. This would not humiliate the 23rd Division too much.

When Lan Luofeng found out about Ling Xiao's decision, she was both happy and sad. Happy that Ling Xiao could go to the First Men's Military Academy to visit their daughter Ling Lan personally and see how she was doing, but privately sad that her daughter could not regain her true female identity, instead needing to stay at the First Men's Military Academy and impersonate a man, hanging out with all those men for at least another four years ...

Having her emotions stirred up by all this, Ling Xiao was once again struck by tragedy. That night, he was once again chased out of the bedroom, forced to stay in his study for the entire night ... Of course, Ling Xiao put it nicely by claiming he had work to do, but everyone here knows exactly what was going on.

In the end, when the time came for Ling Xiao to go, Lan Luofeng decisively made Ling Xiao bring along several boxes worth of stuff, instructing Ling Xiao to make sure to hand them over to Ling Lan no matter what. As for how he could do that, that was not a problem Lan Luofeng had to worry about.

Ling Xiao was incapable of denying Lan Luofeng's requests, so amidst bitter chuckles, he brought all of the boxes onto the military ship ... thus, there was now one more thing Ling Xiao had to worry about, and that was how he could deliver so many things to Ling Lan without drawing any attention!

Right then, Ling Lan had no clue that her old man was actually abusing his authority to hide his identity and come to the military academy to conduct assessments. At the moment, Ling Lan's wrath had been incited by a sudden incident ...

Due to Li Shiyu's intervention, Luo Lang, who originally would have needed at least one month to recover, was already spiritedly running about just after ten days.

Still, Ling Lan was worried, so she conducted a thorough examination of Luo Lang's body 1 , and discovered that he was indeed fully recovered without any remnant problems. Even more shocking to Ling Lan was the fact that Luo Lang's physical constitution was actually much improved from its original baseline. This made Ling Lan curious about Li Shiyu, wondering how he had managed to repair Luo Lang's body so well ...

Perhaps, Li Shiyu was someone she could collaborate with! Ling Lan was extremely pleased with Li Shiyu's treatment methods. In order to ensure the lives and safety of her team, tying down a skilful military doctor was necessary 2 . Ling Lan decisively stretched her greedy hands out towards Li Shiyu ...

At this moment, Li Shiyu, who was at the treatment centre researching Li Yingjie's and Qi Long's physical data, suddenly sneezed violently. This made the instructor beside him very worried — was his beloved disciple being tired out too much lately, causing his immune system to be weakened?

His instructor's concern made Li Shiyu somewhat uncertain himself, so he quickly ran a full-body exam on himself. The results showed that all his body levels were above average standards, indicating that he was very healthy. This made Li Shiyu extremely puzzled — why had he sneezed all of a sudden? As the dux of the military medical research specialization, he took every signal from his body very seriously ...

However, since the exam said he was fine, being extremely busy, he very quickly cast this strange sneeze to back of his mind, once again immersing himself into the new treatment plans he had developed. He looked towards the two within the healing pods, mentally cackling in his heart. He would definitely let these two fellows have a good taste of the power of the gene agent S-modification!

At this time, he could not help but regret that Luo Lang had recovered too quickly. He had not expected Luo Lang to react differently to the gene agent S-modification. This surprised him immensely — it was unfortunate that Luo Lang's wounds were not that serious, so one tube of the gene agent S-modification had healed him for the most part, giving Li Shiyu no chance to use a second tube on him, thus causing him to lose one experimental subject.

Li Shiyu was on one side feeling sorry, while Luo Lang, on the other, was seeing the great benefits of that one tube of gene agent S-modification. Those training tasks which Luo Lang had been barely enduring before could actually now be completed without him breaking a sweat. This let the various instructors in charge of physical conditioning set aside their worries. They had been afraid that Luo Lang would not be able to keep up after missing ten days of classes, affecting his final results in the end. Unexpectedly, after going through the arena fight, not only had Luo Lang's physical skills realm stabilised, his body constitution seemed to be much better than before. The instructors were thrilled by this ...

Qi Long still had not recovered enough to return, Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing were in different specializations, while Boss Ling Lan had already received an exemption for the physical condition assessments and so did not attend physical training courses. Thus, over these past few days, Luo Lang was basically going to class and leaving class with Xie Yi.

On this day, Xie Yi and Luo Lang were just about to return together to the dormitories when Luo Lang was abruptly called out by a student on some matter. Initially, Luo Lang had wanted to ask Xie Yi to wait, but then, he suddenly received a notification from the treatment centre, telling him to hurry to the Military Medical Research Centre for a follow-up examination.

Luo Lang found it a little strange — back when he had recovered, Li Shiyu had said with a constipated expression that 'you can leave now, don't come here anymore!'. Why then would Li Shiyu call him back now for a follow-up?

Luo Lang wondered about this for a moment, but still decided to go once. Regardless of whether there was a follow-up, he would be able to find out what was going on by going there. Thus, he said goodbye to Xie Yi and left on his own.

Luo Lang came to the closest hover car stop near him and boarded a car. The military academy was just like a city of its own — relying on one's two legs to get to the centre would take one to two hours, so Luo Lang naturally chose the convenience of public transportation.

The hover car brought him all the way to the gates of the Military Medical Research Centre. He had just disembarked when a blue-uniformed senior rushed forward to greet him, asking, "Luo Lang, right?"

Luo Lang nodded and said, "Yes, that's me!"

"Dux Li asked me to take you straight to the examination centre. Please come with me." The senior indicated for Luo Lang to follow him.

Luo Lang did not think much of it, following the blue-uniformed senior for a distance, where they then saw a hover car parked not too far from them. The senior explained, "The examination centre is rather far. To save time, we'll take a hover car there."

During the final stages of his treatment, Luo Lang had also been to the examination centre before. Thus, he knew that it was indeed quite a distance away, and so got into the car without any objection. The two of them split up to sit in the front and back row, with the senior seated in front. After the senior keyed in their destination into the hover car's A.I., the hover car swiftly raced off.

However, very soon, Luo Lang noticed something strange. The scenery passing outside the window was extremely unfamiliar, not at all like the route he had taken to the examination centre previously. Luo Lang's heart clenched and he asked, "This road doesn't seem to be going to the examination centre."

"Before going to the examination centre, I need to go to the dormitories first to collect an examination study report," said the blue-uniformed senior, turning his head back to smile apologetically, "This report has to be submitted to the examination centre today. I had originally planned to send it along with you, but I unexpectedly forgot to bring it with me when I left earlier. I'm sorry for making you accompany me for this extra trip, but don't worry, your scheduled examination time is half an hour later. My living quarters isn't far. We'll be able to rush back in time."

Hearing this, Luo Lang replied, "So that's how it is. I understand."

Though he said that, Luo Lang had already sensed something fishy about the situation. He began thinking back on the notification he had received earlier and this person who had come out to greet him. It was all actually quite puzzling — if he truly needed to have a follow-up examination, why would it be a staff member from the treatment centre who contacted him? Mind you, in order to track their recovery, Li Shiyu had taken down the contact numbers of all three of them, so Li Shiyu could have just sent the message to him personally ...

Moreover, if he was supposed to go to the examination centre from the start, why didn't they ask him to go there directly? Why had they asked him to come to the Military Medical Research Centre first? The more Luo Lang thought about it, the more suspicious things seemed, so he said, "Why don't we do this, Senior? You go to your dorm to retrieve your report, while I'll head to the examination centre first. Maybe Dux Li has some instructions, so it would be better for me to get there earlier. There should be another hover car stop in front. You can just let me down there."

The senior turned his head and said with a smile, "It's fine. Dux Li is not at the examination centre. This is just a routine examination. Once the report is out, it just needs to be sent to him."

With that, Luo Lang could already confirm that the other was definitely not sent by Li Shiyu. This was likely a ploy by some person or faction against him. He sifted carefully through his memories of this period of time since entering the academy — he had always trailed Qi Long, desperately working towards completing his physical training. He had no memory of offending anyone, so this scheme should not be directed at him personally ... could it be that there was some other faction who wanted to target their New Cadet Regiment, thus wanting to take him as a hostage to threaten Boss Lan?

How could Luo Lang allow himself to be taken just like this? With that thought, he suddenly pointed towards the front, his complexion paling dramatically as he shouted, "Senior, what's that?"

The blue-uniformed senior quickly turned his head around to look, but saw nothing there. In his bewilderment, he suddenly felt a pain at the back of his head, his sight grew dark, and he fell over unconscious ...

Chapter 271: Become Friends?

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: mjn0898, H2dH2mr

With a flip of his body, Luo Lang was at the front seat. He pulled out the information the other had keyed in earlier, trying to change their destination, but found that it had already been locked in by the other, with no way of changing it.

Of course, this was just a measure which would work against regular cadets like Luo Lang who were not in the hacker specialization. A competent hacker would still be able to crack this relatively basic lock, but unfortunately, Luo Lang did not have the skills on this front. He could only watch helplessly as the hover car flew towards the destination the other had set, unbelievably frustrated.

Luo Lang understood that to stop the travel route was impossible, unless he used violent means to destroy the hover car ... but, extremely rationally, he rejected this idea, because the hover car was flying rapidly at an altitude of over 100 metres. The moment it was broken, he would plummet along with the car. At this height, no matter how confident Luo Lang was, he could not guarantee he would be able to land safely. If things did not work out, he might once again be gravely injured.

Luo Lang really did not want to end up in Li Shiyu's hands again. Although the other truly had superior skills in treatment, his methods of tormenting others were also extremely masterful. Most importantly, 'for your own good' was putting it nicely — you really had no way of resisting, and would even have to grudgingly thank him for the torment after the fact ...

Besides that, Luo Lang also really wanted to know who the opponent was. An unknown enemy was most often the most fearsome and troublesome type. If he could find out some information on the opponent, it would undoubtedly be a great help to the New Cadet Regiment. More importantly, Luo Lang was also afraid that if he escaped this time, the opponent might turn their sights on the other members of the New Cadet Regiment. Other than Ling Lan, Qi Long, and Wu Jiong, Luo Lang's strength was obviously a bracket higher compared to the other members, and so his chances of escaping were also much better than any other member. For these reasons, Luo Lang decided to brave the tiger's den to probe the opponent's identity.

Having made his decision, Luo Lang no longer concerned himself with the hover car. He tied up the unconscious blue-uniformed senior by his side using the other's belt — the binding method naturally being the one Ling Lan had taught them — and then dumped the other in the backseat. Then, he stared straight ahead with a grim expression, silently trying to memorize the path of the hover car.

The hover car moved very swiftly. In less than 20 minutes, the hover car began to slow down from its initial rapid speed. Luo Lang readied his guard, because he knew he was about to arrive at the destination the opponent had set — the enemy was upon him.

Although the journey had taken less than 20 minutes, with the hover car's speed, they were likely to have already travelled over several hundred kilometres, already very far away from the Military Medical Research Centre. The surroundings were extremely unfamiliar to Luo Lang — towering mountains and dense forest were all around them. Besides the wailing cry of some unknown beast, the surroundings were so silent that it was rather unnerving. Luo Lang used the optical supercomputer of the hover car to zoom in on the environment, and found that other than mountains and trees, there was only more mountains and trees, no sign of human presence whatsoever.

Luo Lang's brow began to furrow tightly — he had originally thought that the hover car would bring them directly to the opponent's main camp, or perhaps a temporary outpost. Unexpectedly, he had been brought to such a bleak and remote area; this left Luo Lang at somewhat of a loss.

The hover car was slowing down more and more, even as its height was slowly descending. In the end, the hover car manoeuvred into a narrow gorge, and after passing through it, Luo Lang was greeted by the sight of an average-sized patch of grass. It was lush and verdant, with countless small blooms of myriad colours dotting this sheet of green, giving observers a sense of extraordinary beauty.

At the edge of the grassy patch was a sea of trees. Luo Lang could hear the sound of a babbling brook coming out from the trees, causing everything to seem that much more beautiful and harmonious. This made Luo Lang's initially high-strung vigilance ease a little, but only for a split second — Luo Lang very quickly had his guard up high once more, no longer lingering in his appreciation for that patch of lovely grass. Instead, he paid close attention to the movements of the hover car beneath him.

The hover car slowly moved onto the grass-patch and began to descend until it had landed fully. After that, the hover car emitted a mechanical voice, "You have reached your destination. Please disembark."

Following this announcement, the car doors swung open. Luo Lang did not choose to get off, instead turning on the A.I. again, trying to see if he could enter a new address. In this extremely foreign place, Luo Lang's first move was to try to implement a Plan B — he wanted to set it so the hover car would automatically return from this place back to the dormitories after waiting for 10 minutes.

But very quickly, Luo Lang found that he had failed. The other had already thought of this possibility, and had programmed the A.I. to shut off on its own the moment the hover car arrived at its destination, switching into parked mode. It would not accept any new instructions from Luo Lang, so Luo Lang really had no choice but to remain.

Seeing this, Luo Lang could not help but be chilled by the opponent's attention to detail. It should be known that the hover cars of the military academy would never turn off their engines. They were powered by photonic energy — whether it was sunlight or starlight, all of it would give the hover cars power. Therefore, the hover cars could theoretically continue driving on forever, unless some other mechanical issue occurred or their A.I. programming malfunctioned.

Luo Lang knew that this situation now meant that the opponent must have a high-level hacker on their side, one capable of modifying the operating system of the hover car's A.I., thus forcing the car to power down automatically when it arrived at its destination.

This arrangement of the enemy forced Luo Lang to stay, because there was nothing at all around here 1 — no village-houses, no stores, no hover car stops ... in other words, once someone came here, other than taking the hover car which had originally brought them here back, they would not be able to summon a new hover car over to pick them up, unless they used their communicators to request assistance from the academy mainframe ...

Luo Lang was almost certain that his communicator would be unable to contact the outside world by now. The opponent had planned things so thoroughly, so it was unlikely they would have missed such a large hole in their plan.

Sure enough, when he peeked down at his communicator, his communicator was displaying an alert saying 'signal disrupted, device out of contact'. Who knew how long his device had been flashing that alert — Luo Lang's attention had just been elsewhere, which was why he had not noticed till now.

Luo Lang knew that a tough fight was sure to follow. The opponent had set such an elaborate trap to draw him here, they would not just want to meet him for a chat. He sighed silently, getting off the hover car with his sense on high alert, stepping foot on this lovely patch of grass.

With his back to the hover car, he swept his gaze over the perimeter on all three sides before him. Seeing no one, he was frowning in puzzlement when he suddenly heard the sound of a hover car coming from behind him. Luo Lang snapped his head around and saw three hover cars flying swiftly towards him. In the end, the three cars circled around to surround him before they slowly descended to land.

Soon, 7 or 8 people had disembarked from the three hover cars. The person in the lead was dressed in a pressed white uniform, and he was smiling as he looked at Luo Lang. His figure was tall and stately, his face extraordinarily handsome — he definitely possessed the figure and appearance that Luo Lang dreamed of having — but his sparkling, flirty eyes disturbed Luo Lang. Those eyes just did not seem to fit the other's overall appearance somehow, resulting in a huge deduction in the overall sense of perfection.

The other youths were all dressed in blue uniforms. They looked to be about twenty years old, definitely senior cadets of the military academy; it was just hard to tell which year exactly they were from. They stood around almost randomly, but still keeping Luo Lang completely within their circle.

Luo Lang stared warily at the group. This behaviour of the other side let him know that these people were most definitely the ones who had tricked him here. The two sides stared at each other silently for 2 to 3 minutes, neither side saying a word.

Luo Lang clenched his teeth. From the looks of it, the opponent was not planning to speak up first. Thus, he decided to take the initiative. Looking towards the obvious leader of this group, the white-uniformed youth, who must be a dux of who knows what specialization, he asked coldly, "Was it you who set up this trap to bring me here?"

The white-clothed youth laughed and clapped his hands, "Bingo! How clever!"

"Bringing me here, what business do you have with me? I think, I have never seen you before, so I should not have offended you somehow," Luo Lang said.

The white-clothed youth laughed again and said, "Haha, of course not! Actually, I just wanted to become friends with you."

Luo Lang scoffed at these words, "Become friends? Using this kind of despicable method?"

The white-clothed youth frowned, and said sullenly, "Could it be that Yong-guang 2 didn't tell you that I wanted to discuss something with you?"

"Using a text message to trick me into going to the Military Medical Research Centre, then using the excuse of an examination at the examination centre to trick me onto a hover car and bringing me here by force. What do you think?"

Hearing all this, the white-clothed youth said exasperatedly, "Yong-guang misunderstood my intentions! I just said that I especially admired your performance during the arena fight, actually being able to achieve an upset, defeating a stronger opponent. This deserves my respect. I most admire your type of resilient and tenacious spirit. So, I told him that if I had a chance, I'd like to get to know you, maybe become friends or something ..."

At this point, the white-clothed youth began muttering to himself, "Yong-guang clearly said that he could help me do that ... how did things turn out this way?" So saying, he abruptly raised his head and asked Luo Lang, "Where's Yong-guang? Let me ask him what exactly is going on? I had clearly asked him to invite you here. This place is my favourite spot. I thought you might like it too, which is why I arranged to meet you here."

The white-clothed youth's expression was earnest, as if the truth was just as he said. With that explanation, Luo Lang began to doubt whether things were really like that — was it this Yong-guang who had made a mistake?

However, Boss Lan's cautionary words very quickly rang out in his mind. 'When you are still uncertain whether an other is a friend or foe, you need to guard against the other as if they were an enemy ...'

Luo Lang's heart clenched, cold sweat breaking out along his back. Without knowing it, he had slowly been letting down his guard. He abruptly stared penetratingly at the seemingly earnest face of that white-clothed youth, and said coldly, "No need. He is my hostage now. Why don't you tell me what you intend?"

Luo Lang's wary gaze made the lips of the white-clothed youth twitch, his gaze quickly becoming bleak as he said, "I really had no bad intentions." That said, he bowed his head somewhat mournfully.

"If you have no bad intentions, then help me unlock the settings of the hover car. It's getting late, I should go back now," responded Luo Lang coldly. No matter what the other said, he was determined not to believe it. Who would do such a bizarre thing as this just to make friends? It was suspicious however he looked at it.

Resigned, the white-clothed youth said, "Okay. I really don't know how things turned out this way. All of this was done by Yong-guang. You need to wake Yong-guang up, he should be able to resolve this."

Luo Lang peered intently at the white-clothed youth for a long moment. Then, without shifting his line of sight, his hand reached into the backseat of the hover car behind him, and smacked that person called Yong-guang awake.

Chapter 272: The Mission of the New Cadet Regiment!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Yong-guang moaned and opened his eyes. Waking to find himself all tied up, his face paled, but just as he was about to shout, he noticed his companions standing right outside the car. Joy bloomed on his face as he cried out, "Elder Brother Xi, save me!"

The white-clothed youth saw this and his face turned stony as he barked, "Yong-guang, I ask you. Didn't I say I wanted to become friends with Luo Lang? Asking you to help me invite him out for a meeting, why did you make such a mess of it?"

Yong-guang's gaze flickered. He looked towards Luo Lang, then looked back at the white-clothed youth, and after some thought, he said, "Honestly, I had wanted to invite Luo Lang out properly, but the companion by his side was very wary and cautious. Every time I tried to approach, that person would stop me. Even though I said I had no bad intentions, only wanting to get to know him, the other just would not believe me. In the end, I had no choice but to do things this way. I was originally thinking to explain the situation after we arrived at the destination, but I unexpectedly angered Luo Lang, who knocked me unconscious along the way."

At this point, Yong-guang bowed his head dejectedly and apologised, saying, "I'm sorry, Luo Lang, for misleading you."

"All of this was really just your idea?" Despite the other's explanation, he did not manage to make Luo Lang relax his guard. Luo Lang's right hand was still gripping the other's neck securely — at any strange movement, he would be able to finish off the other instantly. This action of his was also a silent warning to the other people there to not move recklessly, for he had a hostage in hand.

In response to Luo Lang's question, Yong-guang said, "Yes, I'm from the hacker specialization, so I could only use a hacker's method to invite you out." Yong-guang was rather proud of his own methods, but very quickly deflated again, "I was originally just thinking of using the Military Medical Research Centre's system to send you a message, but that system is just too hard to crack. In the end, I could only use the treatment centre's system. Luckily you did not suspect anything."

Yong-guang's words explained why he had received the message from the treatment centre; this rather convinced Luo Lang of the veracity of his words. However, he also began chiding himself internally — it was just as Boss Lan had said — he was all a fighter's brawn and courage, without a strategist's mind 1 . He had not noticed such a simple and obvious flaw ... if not for the fact that the subsequent events had been too out of the ordinary, he might not have noticed right up till the very end.

Luo Lang made a decision then and there that he would definitely go find Han Jijyun when he had a chance for some remedial lessons. Even if he could not become someone as astute as Han Jijyun, he just could not let an opponent use such a simple scheme to lure him out. This was too disgraceful! He could already foresee the teasing he would receive from his companions when he returned.

"That hover car is also your doing?" Luo Lang continued to ask.

Yong-guang's downtrodden demeanour was swept away in an instant. Beaming with pride, he said, "Of course! All this is just a piece of cake 2 !" With regards to his own specialization, he was still very confident in his abilities.

The other's reactions chipped away a little more of Luo Lang's scepticism. As if aware that the ice on Luo Lang's face was thawing, the white-clothed youth immediately spoke up to say, "You see, Luo Lang, I really had no bad intentions. I just felt that we would click, so I wanted to get to know you." Saying this, there was actually a trace of hurt on the youth's face.

Seeing this, Luo Lang's heart could not help but soften, but Ling Lan's stern expression once more floated to the surface of his mind. That cold gaze of his pierced Luo Lang's inner heart, causing his heart to clench once more, causing him to once again harden his somewhat softening heart.

When the white-uniformed youth saw mental clarity reassert itself in Luo Lang's eyes once more, he could not help but jerk back, his initially wounded expression stiffening for just a moment ...

Ling Lan, who was currently in the mecha world performing a mission, suddenly stopped moving, causing Little Four to ask in confusion, "Boss, what's wrong?"

"My spiritual power has been stirred!" Ling Lan answered with a frown.

"What happened?" Little Four was very shocked. He had not sensed any people with spectre abilities near them in the virtual world; it was impossible for anyone to have attacked Boss.

"Could it be something from the virtual world?" Ling Lan asked Little Four. When it came to the virtual world, Little Four knew better than she did.

"No, there are no spectres within a hundred square li of us. Unless this world has another entity like me around, but even so, it should not be able to escape my sensors," replied Little Four with confidence.

Ling Lan's brow scrunched up even tighter. If it did not come from the virtual world, then where had this attack come from?

Right then, Ling Lan had already forgotten that, back during the grand armed melee, in order to protect Qi Long and the others, she had unleashed several strands of her spiritual power, lodging them within the minds of her team members. Back then, Ling Lan had been afraid they would get too caught up in fighting that they might make a wrong decision during a critical moment. Thus, she had left these spiritual power strands in their minds to jolt them into awareness again at those critical moments ...

Originally, she was supposed to take those strands back once the grand armed melee ended. However, by virtue of the chain of events that had followed — her being targeted for an assassination, being seriously injured and unconscious and leaving for home, and then when she woke up, she was immediately taken in by Mu Shui-qing as a disciple to train in Divine Command — she had forgotten to seek out her companions to reclaim those spiritual power reserves of hers.

With the passage of time, these spiritual power strands had been absorbed by her companions' spiritual power, becoming part of them. However, there was an unintended benefit — whenever her companions were attacked by a spiritual power user, Ling Lan would sense it. At present though, Ling Lan did not know about this, which was why she was extremely puzzled over the source of this attack.

"I need to log off. Something just doesn't feel right." Ling Lan decided to listen to her gut, immediately logging off from the virtual world.

********

Inside the villa of Ling Lan's team, one room on the third floor was specially used for the login pods to the virtual world. The moment Xie Yi returned to the team home, he immediately ran to the third floor. As long as it was not during meal time, Boss Lan, Luo Lang, and the others would be in the virtual world, and Xie Yi needed to find Boss Lan before Luo Lang heard of this matter to discuss how they could advise Luo Lang to accept the mission set by the military academy this time.

It turned out that ten days later would be the first assessment for the 5th year seniors who applied to the various army divisions for enlistment. It could be said that this would certainly affect the futures of those students, as well as affect the reputation of the First Men's Military Academy.

This was because those students who passed this first assessment would obtain the best resources the divisions had to offer and gain the best cultivation, and be deployed to the best troop for their development. In comparison, the assessments after that would not provide such great treatment anymore. This was why all the military academies would put their all into doing their best for this first assessment.

The assessment teams sent by the various army divisions would not only come to the First Men's Military Academy, but would also set up station at several other military academies. Those locations would gather all the enlistment hopefuls from the other military academies for assessment — the competition could be said to be extremely fierce. Thus, every year, the military academies placed the greatest importance on this very first assessment. It should be known that, in the past, the students of the First Men's Military Academy would dominate half the passing group. This was why the First Men's Military Academy had always reigned supreme over the other military academies.

The First Men's Military Academy naturally hoped to continue extending their reign of good repute, hence placing a high standard on all aspects of the assessment teams' visit. The school hoped to have everything as perfect as possible, so it could leave a good impression on all the assessment officers of the various army divisions, in hopes that the officers would be merciful during the assessment of their students. Meanwhile, the most essential piece was the welcoming reception ...

As the First Men's Military Academy consisted entirely of manly men, the school could not do as other co-ed military academies did, sending out beautiful ladies to receive the officers. This time, they received news that their sworn rivals, the Federal Co-ed Military Academy had sent out the so-called loveliest female squad to welcome the officers. This made the top ranks of the First Men's Military Academy extremely agitated.

If they still sent out some rough and hairy boys to welcome the officers this time, with this stark contrast, would the examiners be irritated? Thinking that this could affect their cadets' results, their hearts were burning with desperation, as they racked their brains to think of a counterplan 3 . Heaven knows who suggested it, but someone mentioned that there were some among the boys who were graceful and beautiful too, such as the 1st year Luo Lang. (Due to his participation in the wagered fight, quite a few people knew of Luo Lang now. Even the top ranks of the school administration had caught wind of him.) The administrators latched onto this suggestion like their lives depended on it, swiftly settling on seeking out some of the more refined and gentle-looking youths to handle this matter.

In the end, after some study, everyone decided that the 1st year freshmen were still the most suited for this job. The freshmen were innocent, not as slick as the older cadets — so if they really ended up making any faux pas, on account of their young ages, those officers would likely be able to overlook it.

Finally, this matter was handed over to the New Cadet Regiment to execute. Who asked Luo Lang to be a member of the New Cadet Regiment? Moreover, the New Cadet Regiment was the only organisation the freshmen of this year would acknowledge — who else would the administrators seek out if not them?

Xie Yi had been called out by a student for precisely this reason. Their first year homeroom teacher had asked that student to pass on the word, calling Xie Yi to the homeroom teacher's office. (Ever since Qi Long and Li Yingjie had been injured, Xie Yi had temporarily taken their place to become Wu Jiong's assistant, helping Wu Jiong to handle the matters of the New Cadet Regiment, which was why the teacher would seek out Xie Yi.)

The moment Xie Yi arrived at the homeroom teacher's office, he saw Wu Jiong there as well, giving him a hint that this was likely regarding the New Cadet Regiment. Reality proved that Xie Yi was right. The homeroom teacher plainly told them the intentions of the top ranks of the military academy, tasking the New Cadet Regiment with the job of receiving the examiners. Additionally, he kept subtly and pointedly bringing up how excellent Luo Lang was, strongly suggesting that it would be most appropriate for him to lead the welcoming committee.

Wu Jiong and Xie Yi could only smile wryly — the homeroom teacher's words had let them understand clearly what the top file of the military academy was after. They had set their hopes on the lovely androgynous face of Luo Lang ... However, Luo Lang had always hated others judging him by that feminine face of his. The two of them really had no idea what Luo Lang would do when he found out about the administrators' plan. Would he go berserk and flip the principal's desk in anger?

After that meeting, the two of them discussed things over, and felt that Boss Lan was likely the only person who could handle Luo Lang for this. Thus, Xie Yi had rushed back to the villa and straight up to the third floor to find Ling Lan.

Xie Yi had just stepped into the login pod room when he saw Boss Lan's exclusive login pod swing open. Ling Lan sat up primly, prepared to climb out of the login pod.

Seeing this, Xie Yi said happily, "Boss Lan, I was just looking for you to discuss something." That said, Xie Yi shuffled over to lift up Ling Lan's towel from the counter and passed it to Ling Lan.

"What's up?" Ling Lan smoothly accepted Xie Yi's offering of her towel, and began walking as she asked. She was moving towards the restroom to one side, prepared to wash up.

Chapter 273: Where Is Luo Lang?

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Xie Yi quickly hurried over and said, "It's like this ..." He explained the task the military academy had set for the New Cadet Regiment to Ling Lan, "The top rank of the academy has set their sights on Luo Lang, wanting Luo Lang to be in charge of the reception team. The intention being that those going to welcome the examiners should be those who are more on the graceful and slender side."

The hand Ling Lan was using to wipe her face with her towel paused for a beat, then swiped roughly once more as she said with a cold chuckle, "That bunch of top ranks must have something wrong with their brains. The assessment officers of the divisions are here to see brave and skilful warriors, not this superficial nonsense."

Xie Yi nodded emphatically, "Right? Wu Jiong and I felt right then that something was off, but before we could refuse, the instructor had implied that this was a mission the New Cadet Regiment must carry out."

"Unable to refuse?" asked Ling Lan, her eyebrows locking up. She really disliked this mission — Luo Lang would likely be extremely resistant to this mission as well.

"If we could refuse, we would have pushed it off a long time ago. The instructor said that, as long as we complete this mission, the school will guarantee that within one year, no other faction will bother us." Xie Yi shared the benefit the school was promising as well, though this was of course still a type of threat.

"Hmph, faking generosity by piggybacking others. They know very well that Leiting will help us settle everything in these two years. Actually just promising this, what great planning," commented Ling Lan with a cold huff. She threw her towel into the washbasin and strode out of the washroom.

Xie Yi hurriedly rushed forward to clean the towel in the washbasin a little, wringing it dry and hanging it back in its place, as he replied, "Right? But with the school's promise, some factions might make less underhanded moves behind the scenes." Leiting would only help them resolve the conflicts on the surface, so the New Cadet Regiment would still have to handle any manoeuvres behind the scenes themselves.

In this half a month after the wagered fight, there had indeed been no disturbances on the surface, but behind the scenes, the regiment members had still received taunting and bullying to a certain extent. It was just that the perpetrators seemed to have no clear connection to any of the factions, seeming to be acting purely on personal grudges. But Wu Jiong and Xie Yi knew very well that things were not that simple. Simply staying on top of all these miscellaneous trivial matters had given them a lot of stress. Thus, this vow of the military academy was still rather attractive for the New Cadet Regiment.

"If our New Cadet Regiment is given a stable year's time, allowing the regiment members to successfully complete their final exams, in the second year, we will no longer have to be afraid," added Wu Jiong.

This kind of backstage harassment might not bother the top ranks of the New Cadet Regiment much, but they were still extremely detrimental to the lower ranking members. Mind you, the first year was the most critical physical conditioning phase, which was of the utmost importance to every freshman. If they did not have a secure environment to complete these physical training courses, it might affect their final assessment results. This was why Wu Jiong and Xie Yi had agreed to the mission in the end — for the sakes of their regiment members, it was necessary for them to suffer some things.

Ling Lan walked over to sit on a sofa at one side. As she listened to Xie Yi, she could not help but knock on the arms of the sofa, thinking for a long while before saying, "Looks like, Luo Lang will have to take one for the team." This statement sealed Luo Lang's tragic fate for the near future.

At these words, Xie Yi's expression eased. He took a seat on the sofa beside Ling Lan's and sighed, "He'll just have to. For the sake of our New Cadet Regiment's future!" That said, he added obsequiously, "Of course, this matter still requires you, Boss Lan, to act. Luo Lang listens to you best."

Ling Lan threw a cold glance at him in response, frightening Xie Yi so much that he quickly ducked his head, afraid to make eye contact.

Frankly, they had only called on Boss Lan to act because they had no other choice. That punk Luo Lang may look as soft and gentle as water, but he was actually a firecracker, liable to explode with a tiny spark. If they tried passing on the news themselves, they might only manage to touch on the subject — before they managed to elaborate and clarify the whole mission, Luo Lang might already have flipped the table in anger.

However, Boss Lan was different. Luo Lang adored Boss Lan, and listened well to Boss Lan's words. If it came from Boss Lan, regardless of how unhappy Luo Lang was with the news, he would still obey docilely and complete the mission perfectly. This was why Wu Jiong and Xie Yi would seek out Ling Lan for help.

At the heart of it, whether it was those of Ling Lan's team or those of the New Cadet Regiment, they all had a kind of unquestionable trust in Ling Lan. In their minds, as long as a task was taken on by Boss Lan, any challenge would no longer be challenging ... what blind confidence they had in Ling Lan!

Seeing Xie Yi's cowed expression, Ling Lan turned her gaze aside and said dispassionately, "Only this once." Ling Lan did not wish for them to develop the habit of relying on her. There would come a day when they would go their separate ways and fight on their own.

At these words, Xie Yi finally smiled. With Boss Lan's promise, this matter was sure to go off without a hitch. He decided that he would inform Wu Jiong right after this, and ask him to select some of the more genteel looking freshmen with refined manners, to cooperate with Luo Lang in completing this mission.

At this moment, Ling Lan was also mentally considering what to do. She did not want to be a tyrant boss, assigning missions to her followers by force without caring what they thought. She wanted to ask Luo Lang's opinion — if Luo Lang was at all reluctant, she decided that she would go forth together with Luo Lang to complete this welcoming mission.

Ling Lan knew very well that if she too was in the welcoming committee, Luo Lang would definitely have no more mental resistance to the mission, and would instead follow her enthusiastically. Besides, as a girl, Ling Lan did not feel there was anything disgraceful about accepting this mission 1 .

Ling Lan would make this decision because she felt that she herself matched the conditions the top ranks of the academy had set for the welcoming committee. With the union of her parents' strengths, when she looked into a mirror, even she could not help but be enchanted by her own lovely face ...

Indeed, Ling Lan was pretty good-looking, and her slender frame had none of the bulky muscularity of the typical male. By all accounts, she indeed fit the criteria very well, but she had forgotten her own millennium-long unmelting ice block of a face, as well as her piercing gaze which chilled others to the bone. Just standing there, she exuded a boundless air of domination ... how then could she possess the gentle and accommodating air the upper ranks of the military academy requested?

It had to be said that Ling Lan was actually quite tragic — having such a lovely face, but no one dared to even look straight at her ... The domineering air coming from her body completely overshadowed her unbelievably beautiful face. At first glance, all everyone could think was that this person was really cool, really strong, really dominant! Forever unrelated to the phrases beautiful, pretty, or adorable ...

After thinking about it, Ling Lan decided to first discuss things over with Luo Lang to see what the other thought. So, she asked Xie Yi, "Where's Luo Lang? Why didn't he come back together with you?"

Xie Yi was taken aback. "Luo Lang told me he would leave first. Did he not come back here?" He quickly stood up and ran to Luo Lang's login pod to take a look. There really was no one inside. Xie Yi instantly frowned and said, "This fellow, where has he gone?"

Ling Lan also frowned. Luo Lang typically would not run around needlessly — could it be that something had popped up? Ling Lan rapped on the arm of the sofa once more and said, "Tell me the situation when you last saw Luo Lang."

Xie Yi carefully recalled the scene for a moment, then replied, "I had originally asked Luo Lang to wait for me, because the homeroom teacher passed a message for me to meet him at his office. Luo Lang had said yes at first, but then, soon after, he said he had something to do and asked to leave first. Since I did not know what the homeroom teacher wanted, or how long it would take, I agreed. After saying goodbye to him, I went to the homeroom teacher, while Luo Lang left the training field."

"Initially agreeing to wait for you, but then saying that he had something to do and leaving ... this means that within that brief window of time, there was a change in Luo Lang's state of mind," Ling Lan analysed.

"Yes, I wonder if Luo Lang suddenly recalled something, or did something happen within that period of time to change his mind?" Xie Yi mused. Suddenly thinking of something, his face paled and he said, "Could he have been tricked away by that person?"

Ling Lan's face darkened. "What's this?"

Xie Yi quickly told Ling Lan all about the senior who had been constantly trying to find a way to approach Luo Lang over the past few days. Back then, he had already found the other rather fishy, which was why he had actively stopped him. However, the other's intentions were extremely concealed, so all he had were speculations, hence he had not spoken to Luo Lang of it. At this point, Xie Yi was filled with regret. He should have warned Luo Lang earlier to be careful.

"Luo Lang is not that foolish. A stranger would not be able to trick him away so easily. There must be some reason which he could not refuse ..." Ling Lan did not think Luo Lang was that gullible. Even if Luo Lang was indeed all dumb innards behind an intelligent face 2 , he still did not lack basic judgment.

"Wait here for a moment. I'll log onto the virtual network to see if I can find any useful information." Ling Lan decided to depend on Little Four for this, lying back down into the virtual login pod. She was prepared to let Little Four use the virtual network to look up the various surveillance stations in the military academy, to see where Luo Lang had gone.

Xie Yi nodded, settling down quietly onto the sofa. No matter how anxious he was, he did not make any sound. He knew what Ling Lan was heading into the virtual world to do — their entire team knew that Boss Lan was most likely also a very high-level hacker — perhaps Boss would be able to find some clue within the virtual world.

********

Meanwhile, Luo Lang, who was facing off against a crowd, had not let down his guard due to the warning jolt he had received from Ling Lan's spiritual power. After listening to what the white-clothed youth had to say, he contemplated silently for a moment before replying, "I really want to believe what you're saying, but I cannot under these circumstances. If what you say is true, then unseal the hover car and let me go home."

The white-clothed youth responded sadly, "Luo Lang, is it really impossible for us to become friends?"

At these words, Luo Lang laughed. This laugh was unbelievably lovely and charming, causing the white-clothed youth's gaze to darken briefly, becoming deep and unfathomable, but his loss of composure only lasted for a split second. Not thinking too much about this, Luo Lang missed this swift change.

Luo Lang said amidst his laughter, "If you really want to be friends with me, come find me openly. I will not reject someone who sincerely wants to become friends."

The white-clothed youth instantly broke out into a smile, making his face incomparably sunny and bright. This caused Luo Lang's impression of him to rise by several notches once more. Still, even so, his vigilance was not reduced — that cold and piercing gaze of Ling Lan's made him fear to relax.

"Yup, I'll let Yong-guang unseal the hover car then. I'll come find you tomorrow, is that okay?" said the white-clothed youth with his sunny smile, his tone extremely earnest and sincere. Perhaps he was too earnest, for no matter how one looked, he exuded an air of silliness.

Luo Lang only continued to smile politely without saying a word, waiting for the other to fulfil his promise.