327-333

Chapter 327: Spiritual Share!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

After walking for about a minute, Ling Lan suddenly stopped and motioned to indicate that there was someone ahead of them. The others who had become somewhat relaxed due to the daring behaviour of Ling Lan were immediately cautious and alert.

After some thought, Ling Lan decided to expose her abilities a little. Thus, she let out her spiritual power, spreading them out into eight feelers, and began to connect them to the spiritual power of Qi Long and the others.

The spiritual power of those who had already awakened their innate talents was higher than those who had yet to awaken their innate talents, and Qi Long and the others of her original team already had some of Ling Lan's spiritual power in their minds, so her spiritual power connected with theirs very easily. Meanwhile, [No Mecha Unrepaired] and Li Shiyu had awakened support innate talents and so did not have much attack power. Hence, even though Ling Lan had to spend a little more time, she still managed to connect with their spiritual power in the end.

Only when she made contact with Li Lanfeng, her spiritual power was instantly consumed by the spectre power Li Lanfeng had placed around him earlier on as defence. Luckily, Ling Lan's spiritual power level was extremely high and she had deep reserves, so she had not been harmed much even though some of her spiritual power was consumed. That said, suddenly lacking a corner in her initially brimming spiritual power still made Ling Lan feel some discomfort. She frowned slightly, then swiftly circulated her spiritual power to instantly refill the spiritual power that had been consumed.

Ling Lan may not have been bothered much by the incident, but Li Lanfeng was instantly pale with shock and fear. He was well aware what his own power was — it was not typical hacker abilities like he had told Ling Lan but horrifying spectre power. The intrinsic nature of spectre powers was to consume and obliterate — if Ling Lan were to receive any long-lasting damage from this incident, Li Lanfeng would truly regret it for life.

Li Lanfeng's heart was filled with overwhelming regret. Perhaps he should have been honest from the start about what his true abilities were. That way, Ling Lan would not have rashly reached out and tried to connect with his spiritual power.

"Rabbit, are you all right?" In his worry, Li Lanfeng forgot the warning from Ling Lan and called her by his usual address for her.

Rabbit? This unusual address made the ears of all the others perk up high. Qi Long and the others shared a quick knowing glance. As expected, their boss was that rabbit mecha which had caused such a sensation back in the newbie area.

In contrast, Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan were extremely confused. They really could not relate such a cute and harmless creature like a rabbit with Ling Lan.

"I'm fine!" Ling Lan, who had been at the head of the team, was instantly right at the back with Li Lanfeng. She pressed her index finger to Li Lanfeng's lips, her gaze sharp and cold in warning to Li Lanfeng to keep quiet. There were soldiers guarding the exit ahead and she was unsure whether they were NPCs or real people. If they were NPCs, Little Four could cover up everything that was happening here, but if they were real people, there was no way to guarantee 100% safety, so Ling Lan did not dare to be careless.

Feeling the warmth of Ling Lan's finger on his lips, Li Lanfeng seemed to be shocked stiff. He could only stare dumbly at the cold face that had suddenly appeared in front of him and remain motionless.

"Release your defence and make it easier for me to connect with your spiritual power." Ling Lan's voice rang out by Li Lanfeng's ear. The warmth of her breath caused Li Lanfeng's ears to slowly turn red, until it was actually bright crimson in the end.

After alerting Li Lanfeng, Ling Lan extended a new cord of spiritual power once more to attempt to connect with Li Lanfeng's spiritual power. Meanwhile, pre-warned now, Li Lanfeng tried his best to restrain his active spectre power, which finally allowed Ling Lan to connect successfully to his spiritual power.

Soon, the situation behind the tunnel was faithfully reflected in the minds of everyone on the team. This was the exclusive special move of the Divine Command sect —— Spiritual Share! Ling Xiao's battle clan had been able to able to prevail for so long largely because Ling Xiao had this ability too.

After successfully connecting to Li Lanfeng's spiritual power, Ling Lan used her spiritual power to command, "Qi Long, Luo Lang, both of you move."

Receiving their orders, Qi Long and Luo Lang immediately split from the group. Due to the Spiritual Share, they knew there were only two sentry guards beyond the tunnel and were also aware of the guards' every move. They controlled their steps to not make a sound and swiftly moved to the front of the tunnel to lay down in ambush. They would wait to attack at the most appropriate time.

Everyone's attention was on Qi Long and Luo Lang, so they did not notice Li Lanfeng at the rear silently holding his chest, as if trying to calm something.

At the moment that Ling Lan had been close to him, Li Lanfeng, who had seen Ling Lan's face at close-range, suddenly noticed that the rabbit was actually very good-looking ... heaven knows whether it was out of fright or due to surprise, but Li Lanfeng's heart had actually pounded violently during that short moment, and his entire body temperature had risen by several degrees ...

However, Li Lanfeng's self-control was excellent; he regained his composure after just a few seconds. Just then, Qi Long and Luo Lang, who had long saved up their strength, caught the instant the two soldiers took their eyes off the mouth of the tunnel and charged out. Like two cheetahs that had been waiting to pounce, they abruptly launched their attacks at their prey.

The two of them used their left hands to press on their opponents' chests, and with their right hand, they plunged a miniature syringe at the necks of their opponents.

The miniature syringes had been prepared by Li Shiyu, and the high-effect anaesthetic inside the syringes was also courtesy of Li Shiyu. But the conversion of a common syringe into an attack, a potentially lethal weapon at that, was indeed at the orders of Ling Lan. Ever since Li Shiyu had joined the team, Ling Lan had never even considered just letting Li Shiyu simply be a medical doctor. Instead, she made full use of Li Shiyu's medical knowledge and tasked Li Shiyu to develop all kinds of medical weapons that could increase the combat power of the team. For example, this miniature tranquillizer syringe which was simple to use and carry around.

At the moment these two soldiers were pierced in the neck, their final outcome was already decided. The anaesthetic that Li Shiyu specially developed was even stronger than those used in the tranquillizer guns of the military. Initially, Qi Long and Luo Lang had been fully prepared to cope with the opponents' desperate counterattacks — but unexpectedly, the moment the syringes pierced the opponents, the tense muscles of the other party suddenly slackened, and their opponents were unconscious right after that.

Qi Long and Luo Lang carefully placed the two men to one side of the door, while the rest of the team, who had seen them succeed via their mind-link, walked out from the tunnel. When Qi Long saw Li Shiyu come out, a greedy expression appeared on his face. Inside their shared mindspace, he requested, "Senior Shiyu, this miniature tranquillizer syringe you've created is really too useful! Prepare a few more for us next time, okay?"

Powerfully potent, able to take the enemy down instantly, and small enough to carry around in large quantities — these syringes would also be effective as hidden weapons. Qi Long was naturally greedy for this type of useful weapon that could be used from the shadows. Sadly, the anaesthetic in the miniature syringes could only be used once. To use them again, they would need to be refilled with anaesthetic. Moreover, Li Shiyu was rather reluctant to make these things, so each member of the team only had three miniature syringes. After those three were used up, they would have to see when Li Shiyu's mood was good enough that he would be willing to help refill them ... the soporific was controlled by Li Shiyu, so if he did not want to do it, no one could do anything about it.

At Qi Long's request, Li Shiyu's fair face turned dark. D*mmit, he was a military doctor, a life-saving angel — not a devil who specialized in making these sorts of harmful weapons ...

"Yes, Senior Shiyu, with your tranquillizer weapons, we won't need to kill others." Ling Lan lightly kicked the two unconscious soldiers lying on the ground. "You've allowed us to avoid staining ourselves with this sin. I really don't know how we should thank you." Ling Lan was spouting these words of gratitude, but the gaze she directed at Li Shiyu was endlessly cold. It seemed to tell Li Shiyu that it was fine even if he did not want to make more — at most, these youths in their team would just have to commit sin much earlier and stain their hands with blood.

Li Shiyu bit on his lip and looked at this bunch of innocent youths before him with hope shining from their eyes. His heart softened once more and he replied, "Understood. When I have time, I'll make more for you all. You can just come find me to refill them when you run out."

Alright, Ling Lan had completely grasped the weakness of Li Shiyu's heart. Li Shiyu truly did not have the heart to let these junior brothers who had just joined the first grade to be exposed so early to killing and sin. This would place great mental and spiritual guilt and pressure on them, which may lead them to become terrified and suffer from sleepless nights.

Li Shiyu would never forget those few cases he had seen in the Military Medical Research Centre. Those cases had all been newbies freshly back from a battlefield. Unable to shake off the guilt they felt after their first kill, they had fallen into severe depression and some even displayed suicidal tendencies ...

If only Li Shiyu had known that these first-year youths that were so pure and innocent in his eyes had already participated in a civilian expedition team and been exposed to killing long before joining the academy, he would certainly regret his decision. These youths had already been stained with blood, and their hearts had already become exceedingly strong and ruthless from their experience. It should be said that Li Shiyu was like a pure and kind-hearted rabbit. For the sakes of what appeared to be a group of rabbits in his eyes but who were actually wolves in rabbits' skins, he was altering his baseline again and again, repeatedly subverting his original three outlooks. Unconsciously, he was going down the path of evolving into a black rabbit ...

Li Lanfeng saw that Li Shiyu had once again chosen to concede, and he knew that this cute and pure younger cousin of his was almost gone. He had mixed feelings about this realisation, unsure what he should say. In the end, he could only sigh ...

Li Shiyu's reply made Qi Long and the others yell out in excitement within their mindspace. Li Shiyu, who had initially felt a bit down for compromising his principles, found his gloomy mood lifting at the sight of his happy juniors.

With her back to them, Ling Lan, who seemed to be studying the door before them, found the corners of her lips quirking up subtly. How is this Dux Li so easy to deceive? As someone from the same Li family, the leopard was obviously much more black-bellied ...

Little Four did not open the door, merely transmitting the situation behind the door faithfully into Ling Lan's mind. Of course, Ling Lan shared this information as soon as she could with the rest of her teammates, and the initially excited group instantly became sombre again, knowing that this would be a difficult hurdle. Because behind the door were another two soldiers staring intently at the door from about 10 metres away. The moment they opened the door, they would be discovered. And the distance of 10 metres was enough for the soldiers to react and sound the alarm before the quickest attack of the team could reach them.

"Boss, what should we do?" Everyone looked towards Ling Lan and waited for her instructions.

If this were the real world, Ling Lan could have used a spiritual attack to knock down the opponents. But here in the virtual world, this killer move of hers is restricted. Just as Ling Lan was pondering how she could handle this perfectly, Li Lanfeng proposed, "Boss Lan and I are both hackers so we can apply some disguises." He pointed to the two soldiers who were lying unconscious and continued to say, "Two people from the team can pretend to be the guard soldiers standing at the door, while Boss Lan and I impersonate people from the base and go in. I think they will not doubt us right away, and as long as we can get close to them, Boss Lan and I will have the opportunity to take them out before they sound the alarm."

Chapter 328: Spectre!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Li Lanfeng's suggestion put a shine in the eyes of everyone on the team. Han Jijyun cast a searching look at Li Lanfeng, once again feeling that invisible pressure the other gave him.

Ling Lan immediately gave her stamp of approval to Li Lanfeng's method. Qi Long and Xie Yi were the two brawniest people on the team and thus had the most soldier-like builds. The two of them quickly changed into the uniforms of the two soldiers and separated to stand on both sides of the gate. Other than Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng, the others all ducked into the tunnel again to hide with the two comatose soldiers.

Under everyone's gaze, Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng's initially black combat uniforms slowly changed to look like the uniform of the soldiers on the base, exactly like the uniforms Qi Long and Xie Yi had put on. The only difference was their epaulettes — Ling Lan's choice was a major's epaulette, while Li Lanfeng wisely chose to be a senior captain. He stood respectfully half a step behind Ling Lan.

This move made Ling Lan's team's impression of Li Lanfeng rise once more. It should be said that Li Lanfeng was consistently building on his favourability rating among Ling Lan's team members, and he was achieving his goal handily.

When everything was ready, Ling Lan instructed Little Four to open the door. After the doors opened, Ling Lan proudly strutted through the doorway, while Li Lanfeng followed behind her solemnly and respectfully.

Meanwhile, Qi Long and Xie Yi were standing straight on both sides of the door with their backs to it. They both executed an exemplary military salute at the same time, only putting their hands down again after Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng had passed by. All of it looked exceedingly normal.

The two soldiers on the other side of the door were taken aback by the sudden opening of the door and the two officers who had randomly walked through. They shared a doubtful glance because they had not received any news from above that someone would enter the secret base at this time.

However, the salutes and respectful behaviour of the two sentry guards at the door made these two soldiers afraid to judge rashly. Perhaps there had been some emergency so those above had not had time to inform them. Still, carrying out their duty as guards, one of the men yelled out, "Password!"

Li Lanfeng had already walked through the doors with Ling Lan at this time. When he heard the soldiers ask for a password, his heart skipped a beat and his steps slowed involuntarily. Only Ling Lan's pace remained steady. As if not at all affected by the other side asking for a password, she continued to walk forwards confidently, even raising her head to look at the two men before her with an extremely cold gaze.

"Hn, well done," Ling Lan finally spoke up, praising the two soldiers lightly. This made the two men frown, and as Ling Lan took one more step forward, the faces of the two men were about to change drastically when she continued to say, "The password ..."

Hearing the mention of the password, the tense expressions of the two men eased for a moment, and it was at this precise moment that Ling Lan pounced forwards like a cheetah with her entire body, instantly coming right up to the two men.

She opened her hands wide and flicked them forcefully. Two gleams of cold light flashed through the air, and then with a shake and a clench of both her arms, two almost invisible thin ropes flew out from her wrists to instantly loop around the hands of the two soldiers. With a forceful tug, the men were dragged away from their initial position.

Ling Lan's attack had seemed complicated, but it had been completed in an instant. The attack had come too suddenly — those two men did not have any time to react and were pulled right into the air. Ling Lan's hands pulled downwards, and the two men who had been about to collide with one another in the air abruptly changed directions to fall towards the ground. With a quick dash, Ling Lan was below them, and she caught the two men securely.

By this time, the two men were already long unconscious. Ling Lan quietly set them down on the floor.

Only then did Li Lanfeng reach Ling Lan's side. Seeing how much Ling Lan's speed and mobility surpassed his, Li Lanfeng felt a deep sense of frustration. Whether it be in terms of mecha controls or physical skills, he was considerably worse than the rabbit. It looked like, for him to achieve his dream of fighting by the rabbit's side, he would need to work much harder.

"Just now you had obviously already hit them with the tranquillizer needles. Why did you still pull them out of their positions?" Even though Li Lanfeng's speed was no match for Ling Lan's, his vision was excellent. He had managed to see all of Ling Lan's moves in their entirety during that instant.

Ling Lan did not reply, only motioning for Li Lanfeng to go check out the area where the two men had been standing. Li Lanfeng walked over suspiciously, but when he bent down to take a closer look, his expression changed. It turned out that the alarm activation device was right where the two men had been standing.

Though the two men had seemed to be standing firmly at their posts, in fact, they had each only been standing with one foot flat on the ground. The ankle of their other foot was in the air. In other words, their weight was only on the first half of their foot, while their ankle was held off the ground. The moment they noticed anything odd, they need only step down fully and their ankle would trigger the alarm instantly.

This kind of setup was extremely covert and not easily discovered. It could even guarantee that even if the sentry guards did not react in time and were killed, without the conscious thought to keep their ankles up, the guards' feet would certainly step down as their bodies lost balance. The alarm would still be successfully triggered.

Seeing Li Lanfeng return with a face full of belated fear, Ling Lan silently swiped the cold sweat from her forehead. Frankly, she too had not known the alarm was set up in such a way beforehand. If Little Four had not discovered it and alerted her in time right before she attacked, Ling Lan would definitely have fallen for the trap. Even if she managed to kill these two people, they still would not have been able to avoid triggering the alarm. In the end, they would have been forced to run away and return empty-handed.

Seeing that Ling Lan had successfully defeated the two guards inside, Qi Long and the others hurried over. When they saw how the alarm here was set up to be triggered, they too were struck with sympathetic fear, exclaiming that this setup was truly too insane. On the other hand, Chang Xinyuan was extremely interested in the setup. He laid right down on the ground to examine it closely, muttering to himself, as if calculating something.

They did not linger for long. Despite Chang Xinyuan's reluctant gaze, Ling Lan led her team to continue moving deeper into the base. This particular hurdle had indeed been rather challenging, but after that, things became much easier. Perhaps the senior officer of the secret base placed a lot of trust in this alarm setup of theirs, for the following few checkpoints were not as crazy and complicated. Ling Lan's team smoothly made their way to the centre of the base.

Ling Lan led her team members to this area and then stopped moving, because if they moved any further, they would enter the range of the spectres' monitoring. Little Four had long reported to Ling Lan that there were two spectres overseeing the area. The moment they entered within the spectres' range of detection, they would be ruthlessly attacked and obliterated. Moreover, at this time, Ling Lan had no idea how she could explain to her team members how she had known there were spectres here.

Only spectres could sense another spectre — as for who sensed who first, that would depend on whose spectre abilities were stronger. Furthermore, hacker abilities and spectre abilities were two diametrically opposite abilities 1 , which made it almost impossible for both to awaken in the same person at the same time. Even if there was an accident and someone managed to awaken these two abilities that could not coexist, they would still be unable to make those two kinds of abilities strong together.

Because the more powerful the abilities grew, the greater the friction between the two powers would become. The Federation had conducted an experiment once where they had made someone who had awakened both these talents to train them both up equally. In the end, the final outcome was that the bearer of the abilities was unable to withstand the build-up of friction between the two powers. His brain had been crushed under the explosive force caused by the clashing of the two powers, and he was reduced to a vegetable, never waking up ever again.

From then on, the Federation set the restriction so that even if someone awakened both these abilities, they could only choose just one to develop 2 . This information had been carefully conveyed to the students by the instructors of the scout academy around the time their innate talents began to awaken. As such, Qi Long and the others would be well aware of this fact, so she had no way of explaining why she could possess such powerful hacker abilities and spectre abilities at the same time. It could only be said that Little Four's existence was just too formidable beyond comprehension. Ling Lan could not find a reasonable explanation even if she wanted to.

Right then at that moment, Li Lanfeng, who had been rather subdued due to his shock at the extent of Ling Lan's skills, suddenly became focused and his expression turned rather grim. As if sensing something, he immediately cut off his spiritual connection to Ling Lan. Under everyone's stunned gaze and Ling Lan's quiet realisation, an extremely dangerous aura silently seeped out from his body and began to slowly spread.

Everyone felt this aura that made them uncomfortable and sensed their own spiritual power beginning to shudder violently. At the point where they felt as if their spiritual power were about to be consumed by this aura, Ling Lan's spiritual power abruptly surged up and spread out to swiftly wrap around the spiritual power of the seven others in the team.

Ling Lan's protection greatly stabilised the spiritual power of the seven people. Everyone was still unsettled by the experience; only Han Jijyun stared grimly at Li Lanfeng, as if thinking of something.

At this moment, Li Lanfeng had no mind to consider the situation of his companions. He had sensed two dangerous presences ahead, similar to his spectre powers, though they seemed slightly weaker than him since they had yet to notice his presence.

Still, Li Lanfeng's brow remained locked tight. The other side had two people, so Li Lanfeng could not be certain whether he could go up against both of them and keep everyone in the team safe. Afraid that the other side would discover his presence, he swiftly tamped down on his spectre power. With a grave expression, he turned to look at Ling Lan and said softly, "Rabbit, there are two spectres inside. They are very strong. The moment we enter their surveillance range, we will be attacked. Our lives are likely to be threatened."

Against just one, Li Lanfeng had the confidence to defeat the other with just a bit of luck. But with two, Li Lanfeng could not be too sure. After all, the spectres inside were just slightly weaker than him. If the two of them had good rapport and worked together, even if he wanted to protect everyone in Ling Lan's team, he was afraid he would miss something and expose a weakness to be caught by the enemy.

Initially, Li Lanfeng had suspected that Ling Lan too possessed very strong spectre abilities. However, as Ling Lan's hacker abilities had been showcased more and more, Li Lanfeng no longer had much hope for Ling Lan's spectre power. The things that Ling Lan and the others knew, Li Lanfeng knew as well. Although hacker power and spectre power could exist simultaneously, they could not grow strong together.

Perhaps Ling Lan had possessed both these abilities at the start, but he must have chosen to develop his hacker abilities rather than his spectre abilities. Li Lanfeng felt that this was a bit of a shame because almost all spectres were under the control of the Federation military. As the first heir of the Li family, Li Lanfeng naturally could not become a puppet of the military. Thus, when his grandfather had noticed how unique Li Lanfeng's spiritual power was, suspecting that he might be one of those rumoured spectres, his grandfather had completely sealed away all news of this. This was why Li Lanfeng had not been discovered by the military.

Chapter 329: Volunteering to Fight!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

All these years, Li Lanfeng had not met any other of his kind in the virtual world. This had made him feel rather lonely, and this was also why he had taken an interest in Ling Lan even before he found out Ling Lan was the rabbit. Thinking that the other might have spectre abilities, he had been curious and wanted to find out more about him.

"You are not a hacker but a spectre, right?" Just as the other companions were astounded by what Li Lanfeng had said, Han Jijyun suddenly asked softly.

Han Jijyun's words surprised the rest of the team. They all knew what spectres represented in the virtual world. No wonder they had felt as if a great catastrophe was upon them just now. The dangerous aura they had sensed at that time was most likely spectre power.

Li Lanfeng nodded and said apologetically, "Yes, I'm a spectre. In order to hide my powers, I lied to you all. I'm sorry!"

"I knew this already. You all also know there are hardly any spectres in the civilian world. For the leopard's personal safety, I did not allow the leopard to speak of this," said Ling Lan suddenly, "I hope that this matter ends here. If anyone else finds out the leopard is a spectre, his life will be in danger."

Ling Lan's words caused everyone's heart to clench. Indeed, spectres had always been the primary targets of assassination by the enemy nations of the Federation. As long as a spectre's real identity was exposed, their enemies would kill the spectre at any cost. This was also why the Federation military had brought all the spectres in their borders under their control. The Federation needed to protect these spectres, though of course part of the reason was also that they were afraid the spectres not under their control would cause some horrific massacre in the virtual world.

In the virtual world, spectres were synonymous with death gods. With the exception of other spectres, no one else could stand up against spectres. Even the most powerful warrior in the real world or the most authoritative leaders and high-ranking officials were like powerless and defenceless babies before a spectre in the virtual world, helpless if the other intended to kill them.

Thus, the authorities in every nation both loved and feared spectres. They loved spectres because they could become weapons to threaten the enemy nations with, but they were also afraid the spectres would turn on them and harm them. This had also brought about the tragedy of spectres never ever having any freedom in their lives. No authority would be willing to let these frightening beings that could endanger their lives in the virtual world run around unchecked. For their own safety, they inevitably chose to control, or even ruthlessly obliterate these spectres!

"Yes, Boss!" Everyone on the team understood what Ling Lan was saying. Besides, Li Lanfeng had chosen to come clean, which was practically placing his life in their hands — this was the trust he had in his teammates. Qi Long and the others were extremely moved by this. It was from this point on that Qi Long and the others truly took Li Lanfeng as their own companion. He was no longer just a friend of the boss who had joined them halfway, as a member whose status was yet to be determined as temporary or permanent.

Han Jijyun threw a complex glance at Li Lanfeng. He mentally applauded Li Lanfeng's decisiveness in using all he could to obtain the acknowledgement of his companions, allowing him to integrate into the team at a very fast speed. At this time, he had a hunch that Li Lanfeng might be the strongest rival for his position in the team ...

Han Jijyun silently clenched his fists and told himself that he needed to work hard. He absolutely could not lose to Li Lanfeng, this member who had only joined them along the way. He, Han Jijyun, would not give up on the role of military strategist!

Hearing Ling Lan speak up in his defence, Li Lanfeng was extremely grateful. He knew very well that he had never told Ling Lan he was a spectre.

This should be what the books call a 'bosom friend' — at critical moments, the other would help him, accept him, and defend him. Li Lanfeng's heart pumped violently once again, a sort of indescribable warmth rippling within it.

Just as everyone was deciding whether or not to continue with the mission, Ling Lan asked Li Lanfeng with a serious expression, "Leopard, can you withstand the attacks of two spectres?" Only spectres could fight against another spectre's abilities — despite having the virtual god Little Four and so being not at all afraid of the spectres, Ling Lan still needed to ask Li Lanfeng this question. After all, on the surface, Li Lanfeng would be the one fending off the spectres.

Li Lanfeng considered the issue seriously and then replied, "In terms of pure defence, there should be no problem. It's just that there are quite a few members in the team. Once we spread out, I'm afraid I might slip up and the opponent might jump on that chance." The connotation was that resisting was not a problem, but their numbers were a little too many since his defence area was not very wide. Once anyone went out of this range of his, he would not be able to guarantee the safety of all the members of the team.

This was the statement Ling Lan was waiting for. She decided to let Qi Long and the others wait here while she and Li Lanfeng went ahead to check things out.

This decision received firm opposition from the rest of the team; they insisted that they wanted to follow Ling Lan in. They also promised that they would listen to orders and stick closely to Li Lanfeng without veering even one step away.

Li Lanfeng saw that none of the team members wanted to retreat and was instantly filled with pride. He spoke up to say, "Rabbit, I will do my best to protect them. Just let them come."

Ling Lan figured there should not be any big problems since there was still Little Four as backup, so she nodded and agreed.

Ling Lan led the way to the largest door. In fact, they all knew that they had been heading downwards all this while — who knows how deep they had travelled. But upon seeing this large door, every member of their group believed they were already at least 200 to 300 metres deep underground.

Ling Lan then used Spiritual Share to display the situation behind the door to all the team members. It was no longer just a few soldiers protecting this door but a medium-sized team of about 15 people.

On both sides of the door were two iron walls, each with three beam machine guns jutting out from shooting ports aimed at the doorway. And at the end of the iron walls, about 30 metres from the main door, six armed soldiers were each holding a heavy firearm and staring vigilantly at the door. There were also three more people hiding in blind corners of the iron walls. They really did not need to worry about those three men though — as long as they did not reveal themselves, they would not be able to attack the group anyway.

Moreover, Ling Lan and the others were not afraid that they would activate some alarm device either, because once they entered, the spectres would notice them anyway. Thus, they would be exposed regardless of whether the alarm was sounded.

That aside, other than the spectres, they now also had to make preparations to handle an unforeseen enemy — mecha warriors. From the image transmitted via Ling Lan's Spiritual Share, they could see that the area behind the door was vast. There was a space of about 50 metres from ground to ceiling. This proved that not only would ground infantry be present; there might also be mecha operators.

The group set aside those potential enemies for now as they began to analyse how they should deal with the current situation. The six beam machine guns were definitely for Boss Lan to deal with — only Ling Lan had the skill to shoot a hidden weapon accurately into the shooting ports to finish off the six shooters inside.

Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng had to deal with the two spectres. Once they entered, he would have to put all his strength into that, so he would not be able to spare a hand to help with the physical fighting. Therefore, the others would have to deal with the six soldiers with heavy firearms at the front on their own.

Qi Long and the other four of the original group were naturally alright with this. Having grown up under Ling Lan's tough love, even the weakest Han Jijyun was not weaker than the others by much. The key was what they would do for the sixth soldier. After all, each of them could only handle one person — that final additional person would be left out, giving him a chance to fire at them.

Qi Long gave it some serious thought and felt there was still a pretty good chance of success. He was just about to say that he would also handle that last person when Li Shiyu, who had been quietly observing from the side, suddenly volunteered, "That sixth person, leave him to me."

This was the first time Li Shiyu had taken the initiative to do something. This surprised everyone, causing them to all turn to look in Li Shiyu's direction. The intent gazes of the team members disconcerted Li Shiyu, whose fair face was instantly painted with a flush.

"Senior Shiyu is from the military medical research specialization. Won't your combat ability be a little weak? If there's an injury or an accident, the loss to the team will be significant. I don't think it's a good idea." Xie Yi was the first to object. If they were injured, they still had Li Shiyu to help patch them up, but if Li Shiyu was injured, they would be helpless to do anything about it if it were serious.

Xie Yi's words made everyone nod silently in agreement, believing that letting Li Shiyu handle the final sixth soldier was not very appropriate. Chang Xinyuan's mouth twitched, about to volunteer himself when Li Shiyu retorted coldly, "Although I'm a military doctor, my combat skills are not at all weak."

Li Shiyu's typically calm eyes were currently blazing with the flames of anger — Xie Yi's words had made him feel insulted. His expression was proud and confident as he retorted. This expression was very familiar — when Li Yingjie was displaying his proud and haughty side, this was the expression he wore. This caused Qi Long and the others to turn their heads away, unable to look straight at Li Shiyu. As expected of a member of the Li family — that pride and arrogance were in their very bones.

"Ahem ahem, actually, Young Master Shiyu's combat ability is very good. Our Li family puts great focus on cultivating its inheritors' combat skills from young. Based on what I know, Young Master Shiyu's combat ability is significantly stronger than Young Master Yingjie's," Li Lanfeng suddenly interrupted to say with a smile. Though his expression seemed endlessly sincere, as if trying to explain on the behalf of Li Shiyu, for some reason Ling Lan felt a dissonance in his bearing and could not help but feel goosebumps rising all over her body.

"Since we're all from the same team, just call me Shiyu in future," said Li Shiyu earnestly to Li Lanfeng, casting a grateful glance at the other. Li Shiyu frankly loathed the address of 'young master'. However, previously in the military academy, he could not reject the title directly because this was after all tied to the pride and status of his identity as a direct descendant of the Li family. But now, since they had become battle clan comrades, Li Shiyu felt that this address was no longer necessary nor appropriate.

Li Lanfeng smiled widely in response and said with a nod, "Alright then, Shiyu."

When he said this, Ling Lan keenly picked up on Li Lanfeng's buoyant mood.

Seeing Li Shiyu's eagerness to fight and with Li Lanfeng speaking up in support, Qi Long and the others could not find a good way to refuse. So they all turned to look towards Ling Lan, waiting for their boss to give the final word.

Ling Lan nodded and said, "Since Senior Shiyu is sure, then it's decided." Her expression turned stern and she added, "Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, Li Shiyu. The six people at the front are up to you all. You must complete your duty."

"Yes, Boss!" "Yes, Leader!" Even though they all responded slightly differently, the timing of their responses was synchronous. Li Shiyu was currently still unable to call Ling Lan 'Boss' like Qi Long and the others.

Chapter 330: The Lingtian Battle Clan in the Eyes of Chang Xinyuan!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Right then, Chang Xinyuan, who had been standing to one side without finding an opportunity to interrupt, suddenly said, "Wait a minute, I have some things to give you all."

Chang Xinyuan then took out six round metal discs which looked like palm-sized hand mirrors from his bag. He tossed them to Qi Long and the other five and explained, "These are miniature beam shields I created. The power they contain is only able to withstand one heavy artillery attack. Bring them along with you. Although they aren't that good, they should still be able to play a protective role at critical moments."

Chang Xinyuan then explained how to use the miniature beam shields. The appearance of this unexpected piece of equipment delighted everyone; any extra bit of protection was naturally good. They had already come so far in this mission — the hope of success was in sight; no one wanted to just die and be respawned back at the start.

Qi Long thumped Chang Xinyuan's shoulder enthusiastically, loudly praising how awesome Chang Xinyuan's little invention was as he did so. The strength behind the thumps almost threw Chang Xinyuan to the ground. Qi Long then requested for Chang Xinyuan to make more of these useful and easily portable small beam shields whenever he had the time. It would be best if each of them could have ten or more of these.

With regards to this rather outrageous request of Qi Long's, Chang Xinyuan was not at all angry. Instead, he was very happy, breaking out into a large grin. For Qi Long to say this meant that he, Chang Xinyuan, was useful to the team — the members of the team needed him. This was a great comfort to him.

Along the way, Chang Xinyuan had realised that every member of Ling Lan's team was very strong. Whether it was in terms of mecha operation or physical skills, they were much stronger than the average battle clan, so much stronger than him. This made Chang Xinyuan feel rather inferior and he had even begun to wonder whether he could remain in the clan and actually become a true member.

The brotherly bond among the members of Ling Lan's team made Chang Xinyuan, who had always been alone, endlessly envious. It could be said that Chang Xinyuan had joined Ling Lan's team at the start out of a lack of options — he had no other choice. If he had passed off the chance to join Ling Lan's team, he might very likely have had no other opportunity to ever join a battle clan after that. The cruel truth of the situation pushed him to take the gamble. When Ling Lan had received that SSS-rank mission, he had indeed hesitated. However, Chang Xinyuan was not a person who would give up at the first sign of difficulty, otherwise he would not have resisted the Thunder King's oppression for three years. In the end, he chose to fight along with Ling Lan and the others.

Over this duration of time doing the mission together, he had come to understand the deep bond among the team members. Boss Lan was very cold and somewhat domineering (this was just Chang Xinyuan's perception. Ling Lan was actually not domineering at all, she was just used to keeping a slackface), so it was rather stressful trying to get along with him. At times, just making eye contact with Boss Lan would cause him to have difficulty breathing. He knew that the truly strong would always have a type of aura about them. However, he had never encountered someone like Boss Lan who gave him such heavy pressure. If the Thunder King had exuded the same type of feeling as Boss Lan back then, he probably would not have been able to hold out and would have long chosen to capitulate.

But this domineering, cold, and ruthless Boss Lan would forever stand right at the front of the team and shield them from the wind and rain at the most critical moments. Just like when the magnetic tsunami had hit, Boss Lan had decisively stayed right till the end to ensure all of them safely entered the mainship first. That time, Boss Lan had almost died in the magnetic tsunami.

Chang Xinyuan was well aware that Boss Lan was not just acting. He was very strict with Qi Long and the others' training, perhaps even somewhat brutal about it — he was absolutely a harsh taskmaster. Many times, Chang Xinyuan himself felt that Qi Long and the others were not going to survive. But then, he also saw more than once how Boss Lan would seek out Li Shiyu whenever he had the time to discuss how they could improve the physical constitutions of the team members, along with their endurance and resistance to blows. And all of this was so they continue to stay alive and well, whether it was in Mecha World or in the real world when they fought on a real battlefield in the future.

Boss Lan was a responsible boss and an even more competent parental battle clan leader. Following such a boss, he would never have to worry about being pushed out someday to be a sacrificial scapegoat. Alright, the bits and pieces which had happened over this period of time had caused him to become like Qi Long and the others, beginning to idolise Boss Lan ...

Meanwhile, Qi Long and Luo Lang were the primary and secondary fighters of the team, the strongest in the team in both mecha combat and physical skills combat, but of course they were incomparable to Boss Lan. Back when the New Cadet Regiment had fought against Leiting in the arena, they had been two of the five representatives. Among them, Luo Lang defeated the third strongest in Leiting, while Qi Long fought on even terms with the second strongest of Leiting, only losing unfortunately in the end. All this information had been conveyed to him by Li Shiyu. He had put his entire mind into modifying mecha back then so he was not very clear on the various things that had happened in the military academy, including that arena battle.

Xie Yi was very warm and passionate. He was the first among the old members of the team to take the initiative to get to know Chang Xinyuan better. Friendly and cheerful, they got along very well. But Xie Yi's combat ability was not weaker than Luo Lang's by much. Typically, in battle clans, the main and secondary fighters would be stronger while the rest of the fighters would be a bracket lower. However, in Ling Lan's battle clan, almost everybody's strength levels were very close. With Xie Yi's strength, even if he might not be able to be the primary fighter in another battle clan, he more than qualified to be a secondary fighter. But in Ling Lan's clan, due to the fierce competition with rivals as plentiful as clouds, Xie Yi could only be one of the two wings of the team.

Han Jijyun normally looked very austere, as if hard to get along with, and his eyes always shone with a calculative light. Chang Xinyuan had always felt rather nervous around these kinds of strategist-type people, afraid to approach them. But whenever Boss Lan was absent or sitting idly by, Han Jijyun would automatically take responsibility for the command of the team, develop tactics, and make arrangements to keep the team operations running smoothly.

During the time they had lost contact with Boss Lan, Han Jijyun had proved that he was well qualified for the role. Back when they had no way of obtaining certain news regarding Boss Lan, he was the one who daringly decided to use the set of false data they had agreed on at the start. Despite part of it being due to Chang Xinyuan's suggestion, after learning more about hacker abilities later, Chang Xinyuan had greatly admired Han Jijyun's boldness and decisiveness, as well as the other's deep and unwavering faith in Boss Lan ...

Meanwhile, Lin Zhong-qing was usually very plain and unobtrusive, perhaps even a little like an invisible person, always silently doing his things. At first, Chang Xinyuan had somewhat overlooked him. But then, the team went on the move. Every time Boss Lan wanted an update on the materials remaining for the team, he would definitely ask Lin Zhong-qing. This let Chang Xinyuan know that Lin Zhong-qing was the head logistician of the team.

The facts proved that Lin Zhong-qing carried out his role as logistician perfectly. Whenever the team needed something, he would be like the legendary Doraemon, bringing out resource after resource to meet the needs of everyone on the team. It was clear to see that he had a very thorough understanding of each and every member of the team, knowing what they might need. In particular, what surprised Chang Xinyuan was that although he, Li Shiyu, and Li Lanfeng had just joined the team, Lin Zhong-qing had been able to figure out some of their habits within this short amount of time. From there, he had actually been able to also prepare some of the materials they needed ...

Li Shiyu had joined the team with him, but the other was already familiar with Qi Long and the others. At first, when Chang Xinyuan had not known their true identities, he could still tell they already knew each other in real life just by their interactions. Li Shiyu was somewhat aloof — this may just be the characteristic of a dux. Chang Xinyuan did not think there was anything wrong with it; it was normal for those with talent to be a little prideful. Perhaps because he too was a researcher like himself, Li Shiyu was also very straightforward and innocent, maybe even a little soft in Chang Xinyuan's eyes. That was why he was always unknowingly falling for Boss Lan's verbal manipulations, having to follow whatever Boss Lan said in the end.

Perhaps finding Li Shiyu a little pitiful, Chang Xinyuan often chatted with the other. Perhaps because they were both newcomers to the team, or perhaps because they were both researchers, and maybe also because the other could sense his benign intentions, the two of them got along very well, always having something to talk about. This was also how he had found out more about Qi Long and the others. During their conversations, they would often talk about their teammates as well as their exploits and achievements.

The one Chang Xinyuan could not puzzle out was Li Lanfeng. The other had a great attitude, often seen with a warm and gentle smile. He was always extremely respectful towards everyone in the team and seemed easy-going. However, Chang Xinyuan just did not dare to get too close to him. For some reason, the other felt unsafe, without the sense of stable security Li Shiyu gave him. This might be because Li Lanfeng was a spectre, having an innate dangerous air about him. Chang Xinyuan could only use this reason to reassure himself.

In short, Chang Xinyuan had been very happy during this period of time spent with the team. Having been oppressed by the Thunder King for three years, constantly lonely and depressed, Chang Xinyuan treasured the happiness he felt in this brief period of time. He could not bear to lose this again — he really wanted to join the team and become a permanent member, not just a passing guest. Thus, Chang Xinyuan had spent these past few days in a daze, afraid that his hopes would be nothing but a mirage 1 .

This was also why Qi Long's outrageous request had made him so happy — it had made him feel just a bit more integrated into the team. In his joy, Chang Xinyuan's thoughts shifted to the six shooters Boss Lan was going to handle. The best hidden weapon for the task would undoubtedly be the miniature tranquillizer shots Li Shiyu had made. Chang Xinyuan remembered very well that Boss Lan had already used up two as they had passed through the tunnel earlier. Right now, he must only have one left on him.

At this thought, Chang Xinyuan quickly brought out the three tranquillizer shots given to him from his bag, passing them over to Ling Lan as he said, "Boss Lan, I remember that you only have one left. To take out those six men, you'll need another five. I won't be using these 3 of mine. Why don't you take them, Boss?"

Chang Xinyuan's words alerted everyone and they all quickly began rifling through their bags to see if they had any more, all of them wanting to give theirs up for their boss to use.

Ling Lan speechlessly accepted the three tranquillizer shots Chang Xinyuan had handed over. She could not tell them that, as long as she had the materials, Little Four could instantly create countless tranquillizer shots for her ...

Li Lanfeng had just taken out his own set of tranquillizer syringes and was about to hand them over when Li Shiyu beat him to it.

"Here, leader, I won't be using these things. Take it." Li Shiyu decisively passed his three miniature tranquillizer syringes to Ling Lan.

Ling Lan only took two of the three in his hands and said lightly, "In a bit, you'll need to use it."

Ling Lan's words gave Li Shiyu pause, but then Qi Long came up to circle an arm over Li Shiyu's neck and said with a smile, "For those six people we have to deal with, if we want to take them down instantly, we can't lack this creation of yours, you know."

Qi Long's reminder enlightened Li Shiyu. He no longer pressed the matter, taking back that last syringe in his hand. He clamped it tightly between two fingers, prepared to use it when they attacked.

Chapter 331: The Existence of a BUG

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

Seeing how well the members, both old and new, were getting along, Ling Lan's lips quirked up slightly. Then, her expression turned stony as she ordered, "Get ready to move."

Everyone immediately stood up, their initially relaxed and smiling faces turning serious and focused in an instant. The initially relaxed atmosphere was swept away immediately.

Li Lanfeng once again looked admiringly at Ling Lan. He had joined many battle clans before temporarily, but Ling Lan's battle clan was the most efficient. When it was time to relax, they relaxed, but the members would never drag the rest of the team down at critical moments — the transition between moods was perfect. Like now, the moment Ling Lan gave a command, no matter how relaxed they had been before, the members could instantly enter battle mode. This was completely the type of mentality and experience only veteran soldiers could have, yet this bunch of youths three years younger than him had actually managed to attain them. This made Li Lanfeng once again feel the threat — if he did not work hard to become stronger, he would be left behind by these people if he wasn't careful.

Even as Li Lanfeng felt the pressure, he was grateful. Luckily he had found the rabbit early and was able to join his battle clan. He believed that as long as they strive to become strong and continue to grow, the Lingtian Battle Clan would definitely become one of the strongest battle clans in the Federation. He had faith in Ling Lan, he had faith in himself, and he had faith in these youths.

Even if he really did meet that so-called king in the future ... he just did not believe that with the help of the rabbit and these youths, he would still be subject to such humiliation ... Li Lanfeng clenched his fists tight. He would definitely go against the heavens and change his fate!

Once everything was ready, Ling Lan led her team members to split up and hide themselves on both sides of the large door, and then she instructed Little Four to open the door.

The door swung open abruptly, stunning the people inside. Ling Lan's team hiding in the wings charged out like ferocious tigers under Ling Lan's battle cry, each leaping towards their respective targets.

Ling Lan took the lead, three miniature syringes in each hand, leaping out in two large steps. With a stomp of her right foot, her entire body flew into the air. In mid-air, she swung both her hands vigorously, and the six miniature tranquilizer syringes flew out like rays of light, shooting right at those six shooting ports.

Ling Lan was very confident that she would not miss, because she had already used the guidance ability of her spiritual power to align the six miniature tranquilizer syringes to follow the route she wanted so that the syringes would unerringly strike the shooters hiding within the iron wall.

Six cries of pain rang out and then the sounds abruptly cut off. Why had there been a reactionary sound this time when using the syringes? It was because the openings of the ports were truly too small — in order to ensure she hit the opponents, Ling Lan had chosen their most fragile parts to target: their eyes. Who asked the shooters to have their eyes wide open, staring through their gun scopes? According to the flight path, the eyes were the easiest spot to target and hit.

Six miniature syringes struck and shattered the gun scopes, and then ruthlessly pierced the eyes of those shooters. Eyes were the most sensitive among the human organs, with the most rapid reflex nerves. That was why the shooters had time to cry out before the anaesthetic could take effect. Still, it was only for that brief moment — Li Shiyu's intensified anaesthetic was truly too overbearing. Additionally, the eyes were the closest to the brain — the opponents were almost instantly put down, which was why the screams had been abruptly throttled.

At the same time, Qi Long and the other five following behind Ling Lan overtook her when she leapt up into the air to throw the syringes, instantly sprinting forwards about 30 metres, where they then fiercely leapt at those six soldiers armed with heavy firearms.

"Enemy attack!" Seeing six people charging at them, even the dullest soldier knew that these people must be enemies and not friends. One of the men quickly raised his voice to shout, simultaneously raising the heavy firearm in his hands to aim it at the six incoming people, preparing to shoot. Although heavy firearms were powerful and fiercely overbearing, it was not so convenient to use them. Using them were by far not as agile as using beam guns, which was why Qi Long and the others had dared to charge in so directly. They were banking on striking with haste before the enemies could rally and shoot.

At the moment Qi Long and the others attacked, deafening sirens tore through the vast and empty space. The entire centre of the base was dominated by this screeching sound. Ling Lan's group knew well that this was definitely the work of those three soldiers hiding in those blind corners. Only they would have had the time to go do such a thing. However, they did not mind. Once they had entered this location, it was impossible for their presence to remain hidden.

Qi Long and the other five's attack speed was extremely quick. Before those soldiers could pull on the trigger of their heavy firearms, Qi Long and company's attacks had already arrived. Qi Long's company knew that the situation was critical, so they used their strongest killing moves from the get-go.

Savage fists flew through the air, leaving explosive sounds in their wake which indicated that should those fists land, severe injury was certain even if death was avoided. Seeing their own heads about to be struck by these heavy blows, instinct made the six soldiers choose to dodge instead of counterattacking. However, even though they managed to dodge the punches, they still did not manage to avoid the needles held between the fingers of Qi Long's company.

Just a simple graze as the points of the needles broke the skin on their cheeks, and their face was instantly bleeding. However, this sort of minor injury was nothing in the eyes of professional soldiers. They were just about to lift their weapons and retaliate with fire when they found that their own arms were beginning to feel weak. Moreover, they actually felt no pain from their wounds ...

Was it poison? No, it was an anaesthetic. They felt their entire body beginning to grow numb until they could no longer move ... at this time, the men saw those six opponents lift up their hands to jab firmly downwards.

Yes, jab. Because they could see clearly then that the opponents were holding miniature syringes in their hands. When the syringe jabbed into them once again, in the very next second, they had descended into darkness ...

Li Shiyu looked at the people who had initially been standing in their way finally falling down unconscious after being hit by his anaesthetic. He found that it was even easier and more convenient to deal with one's enemies using medication rather than actual combat ... he subconsciously looked down at the emptied syringe down in his hands, contemplative. Perhaps he should change his combat style. The results were the same — the enemy would be downed either way — so why shouldn't he make his life easier? Perhaps he should try and apply more of what he had learned into his fighting?

Li Shiyu did not have more time to think beyond that; a dangerous aura suddenly surrounded them. Perhaps having experienced it before, or perhaps because their spiritual power had become familiar with Li Lanfeng's spectre power — this time, when Li Lanfeng activated his spectre power, Qi Long and the others did not feel particularly frightened.

The next second, Li Lanfeng's body suddenly jerked. Even though Qi Long and the others could not see nor feel anything, they knew that the enemy spectres had most likely tried to attack them while Li Lanfeng had protected them.

********

In the central district of the base, within a beautifully decorated and comfortable hidden room, two black-robed men were sitting with their eyes closed. The body of one of the men swayed violently as a muffled groan emerged from his mouth. Face pale, he opened his eyes and growled, "That bastard D2. Didn't he say that the people sent by the Federation to investigate, including their spectres, had all been drawn over to the trap? Why is there an attack here with such a powerful spectre?"

At these words, the other man opened his eyes in shock. "Carter, you failed?" He had not participated in that attack just now because there were only nine people involved. He thought that his comrade would be able to finish off the group of attackers easily, but his comrade had unexpectedly failed. Moreover, his comrade seemed to have been at a disadvantage against the opponent spectre.

"Yes, the opponent spectre is stronger than me. My attacks were intercepted by him. Pete, let's work together this time. We must make sure they do not return from this attack."

"Okay!" Pete's and Carter's strength levels did not differ by much. Since the opponent was stronger than Carter, he would not be able to handle the opponent alone either. Still, he believed that as long as the two of them worked together to attack, they would definitely be able to bring down this strong spectre of the Federation.

Just thinking that they would be able to kill a powerful spectre filled Pete with excitement. This would mean unparalleled merit! Perhaps his military rank would be pushed higher by this exploit ... Pete's eyes gleamed with greed.

Pete was this confident because the two of them had been partners for over 10 years already, so their rapport was excellent. There had been quite a few singled out and isolated spectres who had already died at their hands. Pete did not think that this spectre would be able to withstand their joint attack.

********

Seeing Li Lanfeng standing still, his expression grim, Qi Long and the others could tell the brutal battle between spectres had already begun. Even within Li Lanfeng's protective range, Qi Long and the others could still feel a sort of invisible pressure as their spiritual power was suppressed by a strange energy. It was extremely uncomfortable. As time went by, the faces of Qi Long and the others began to pale. Even though Li Lanfeng was doing his best to hold the other spectre back, a little of the other spectre's power had still seeped out from under his interception.

And this little bit of spectre power was enough to make them feel the danger. It was as if something was about to devour their souls. Chang Xinyuan, whose spiritual power was relatively weaker, began to cradle his head with a pained expression, slumping to sit on the ground.

Only a little spectre power had leaked — this was not a direct attack — and it was already so painful and unbearable. Only now did Qi Long and the others genuinely comprehend the true horror of spectres. Sure enough, within the virtual world, spectres were death gods. This type of attack on their very soul was something they had no strength to resist.

Seeing that everyone had experienced the horror of spectres, only then did Ling Lan activate her spiritual power to protect the spiritual power of Qi Long and the others. With the additional protection of Ling Lan's spiritual power, colour returned to Qi Long's and the others' faces.

The reason why Ling Lan had not used her spiritual power to protect them to begin with was so that Qi Long and the others could truly comprehend the horror of spectres. This was so that they would not think that spectres were beings they could fight against in future. Before they achieved imperial operator status, anyone would be defenceless babes in front of spectres, freely available for slaughter.

Ling Lan remembered very well that her dad had said that the existence of spectres was like a type of BUG in the virtual world. Only imperial operators who knew how to manifest their spiritual power outside their body had the ability to resist. However, not all imperial operators knew how to project their spiritual power because the projection of spiritual power was one of the necessary conditions for advancement to god-class operator status. Therefore, god-class operators had no fear of spectres, because they too were god-like existences.

Chapter 332: The Aberrant Modification Innate Talent!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

"Boss, your leopard seems to be in bad condition." Following Li Lanfeng's great battle with the two spectres, Little Four very quickly found their hiding place by tracking the other side's spectre power. However, in the meantime, after successive confrontations, Li Lanfeng who had been fighting on his own was gradually put at a disadvantage — the situation looked somewhat precarious.

"How much longer can he hold out for?" Ling Lan's brow creased. The opponent spectres were unexpectedly strong. She had not thought the purely defending Li Lanfeng would be worn down so quickly.

Little Four rolled his eyes dramatically at Ling Lan. How could a confrontation between spectres be as simple as his boss assumed? Although Li Lanfeng's spectre powers were strong, he did not have any true battle experience after all. His methods of resisting were extremely rudimentary, which was why he was being worn down so quickly. Otherwise, with Li Lanfeng's power, which was stronger than the opponents by a bracket, he could have easily held an undefeatable situation with his full focus on defence.

"The main reason is that he does not have enough experience, never having fought other spectres before. Plus, those two people are working together very well, which is why your leopard is being foiled at every turn. Still, your leopard is very smart, actually correcting his mistakes in battle and developing his own defensive manoeuvres. Although the situation is rather worrying, to defeat him, those two people will still have to put in quite a bit of effort," reported Little Four to Ling Lan.

Ling Lan frowned at those words. She was somewhat unsure whether to let Little Four help the leopard to handle those two spectres or to just continue waiting here patiently and let the leopard gain as much combat experience as he could against other spectres.

"Little Four, what is the situation in the base? Is the other side redirecting a large number of ground troops over?" Ling Lan asked Little Four. If a large number of ground forces was mobilised, she would need Little Four to help out then. After all, their numbers were too few — they had no way to compete with the entire Swift Dragon fleet. Time was of the essence, they could not afford to waste any bit of it.

"Ah, I was just about to tell Boss the news!" replied Little Four suddenly, "The Swift Dragon base has not been alarmed. Other than alerting those within the base command, there has been no other disturbance here. Moreover, the people alerted are not the highest commanding officers of the Swift Dragon base."

"Looks like there is indeed some problem with the Swift Dragon base. Who knows which faction these people are from ..." Ling Lan silently mused to herself. Trying to kill them right as soon as they arrived, the spectres here are very likely not actually from the Federation military. Perhaps they had been sent by a hostile nation, or perhaps they were from some of those terrorist organisations rebelling against the Federation.

They must definitely be afraid of exposing themselves, and so did not dare to cause too great of a ruckus. This was also why the Swift Dragon base had not been alerted — they were afraid that the mainframe would discover a problem (they must not yet know that the mainframe is already aware that there is a problem here).

And the purpose of this trip by Ling Lan's team was to find out what exactly had happened at the Swift Dragon base. To make sense of this, it was necessary to uncover the backgrounds of these mysterious hackers and spectres. Thinking about it, the true intention behind the mainframe's assignment of this mission was probably to figure this out ...

"Also, those military investigators sent secretly by the mainframe have already been lured to a trap and have already begun fighting. That's why there won't be any other spectres appearing here temporarily," Little Four suddenly interrupted Ling Lan's thoughts to say, "However, there's some bad news. Although there hasn't been much commotion outside, two of the three large mecha troops protecting this base is on their way here now. I estimate that they will be here in one minute."

With a 'thwack', Ling Lan, who was utterly infuriated at this news, instantly flicked a forceful finger onto Little Four's forehead. "You rotten Little Four, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Little Four cradled his aching head and whined, "Isn't it still in time, telling you now?"

Although what Little Four said was still rather reasonable, Ling Lan completely ignored the pouting Little Four in her mindspace. This Little Four ... treat him a little better and his skin would begin to itch with the urge to do off-key things. She must treat him a little harshly for him to be a bit more reliable — Ling Lan truly suspected that Little Four had some masochistic tendencies in his bones.

Ling Lan decisively cast thoughts about Little Four to the back of her mind as she commanded everyone in her team, "All members, enter your mecha and prepare for battle!"

Ling Lan's command was very abrupt, but Qi Long and the others of the old team were already used to this sort of behaviour from Ling Lan. They instantly unleashed their mecha. Li Shiyu and Chang Xinyuan had only joined the team recently after all, so they were stunned for a moment, slower than Qi Long and the others by a beat. However, their reaction was still pretty quick, releasing their mecha right after Qi Long's group of five.

Meanwhile, Li Lanfeng, who was tenaciously fighting against the two spectres, was the last one to let out his mecha. Defending with all his strength, only when he could ensure no disruption to his duty did he allow himself to let out his mecha.

They had just gotten into their mecha when the ground began to quake violently. Only then did they realise why their boss had asked them to get into their mecha. These intense vibrations proved that quite a number of mecha was rapidly approaching them from not too far away. Following the gradually intensifying quaking of the ground, everyone prepared themselves for battle. They each pulled out their cold weapons with their right hands, while their left hands raised their beam guns. The moment Ling Lan gave the command, they would fire.

After about 30 seconds, around 20 mecha appeared ahead of them in an arc formation. Ling Lan calmly observed the distance between the incoming enemy and her team, silently calculating the best time to attack.

Just when they were about 10 metres short of entering each other's shooting range, Ling Lan shouted loudly, "Fire!"

Following this command, everyone raised their beam guns, aimed at their respective targets, and pulled the trigger. Eight beams shot out from the guns at almost the same time in an attack towards the distant enemy.

"Activate beam shields!" Seeing the opposing mecha firing, the invading mecha from the base all activated their beam shields to block. Their numbers were obviously two or three times greater than their opponents. Even if the opponents were attacking them, there were not enough beams to hit all of them. And even if they were hit, the shot mecha might only be hit by just one beam. If any of them were hit twice in a row, then they could consider themselves terribly unlucky today.

Furthermore, their beam shields could withstand three beam attacks without sustaining any damage. Thus, none of these mecha chose to dodge, charging ahead fearlessly instead. They were prepared to overwhelm the opponent with their numbers and utterly destroy these terrorists who had invaded the heart of their base.

Then there was a loud 'boom!' and one of the mecha from the mecha horde from the base suddenly exploded. The tremendous explosion even caused collateral damage to the mecha of his comrades around him. Right after that, not too far off, yet another mecha exploded in a similar manner, just not as frightening as the explosion of the first mecha had been.

"What's going on?" This question emerged suddenly in the minds of all the other mecha operators of the base. However, time did not allow them to think any further on it. On the battlefield, death was extremely commonplace. Thus, they merely carried their doubts in silence and continued to charge forwards.

Ling Lan stared, somewhat dumbfounded, at Chang Xinyuan. The mecha Chang Xinyuan was operating now was not a standard Federation advanced mecha; he had chosen to operate his own intermediate mecha. Having been modified by Chang Xinyuan, although this mecha did not seem very different on the outside, its internal weapons system had already been changed significantly. Ling Lan had already witnessed this back when they had been trying to destroy the door of the transport ship's hold.

Ling Lan knew that Chang Xinyuan's innate talent in modifying mecha was very strong, which was why he had garnered the Thunder King's attention so much that the other had not hesitated to use threatening methods to try and force Chang Xinyuan to join him. Ling Lan had been under the impression that she already had a good grasp of Chang Xinyuan's abilities, but now, from the looks of it, she had still been underestimating his modification innate talent.

Ling Lan had never expected that Chang Xinyuan was not only good at modifying mecha, he was equally aberrant at modifying weapons. It was previously shown that he had modified the interference missiles in the mecha's head portion, transforming them from weak ' chicken ribs 1 ' into extremely powerful heavy-artillery laser cannon shots. Although Chang Xinyuan had categorised those projectiles as immature modifications due to the limited firing range, in Ling Lan's mind, those shots were absolutely a horrific trump card to pull out when circumstances called for it.

Just imagine, when a mecha draws into close-range to fight, no one would ever think to defend against those interference missiles from the head of that mecha. This was because even if they were struck by interference missiles, at most their mecha would be left with several faint and negligible scratches. The mecha would not be significantly damaged, let alone the mecha operator sitting inside it.

Therefore, no one would be on guard against interference missiles. Then, imagine if, at that time, a laser cannon shot were to be unleashed suddenly from the head of that mecha ... The power of a laser cannon is several tens or even hundreds of times stronger than that of an interference missile. Undoubtedly, even if the mecha on the receiving end of a laser shot head-on would not be completely destroyed in the blast, the concussive force from the resulting blast would be enough to give them a whole lot of trouble 2 — even if they did not die, they would still be half-dead. Thus, the range problem Chang Xinyuan was regretful about was not a problem at all in Ling Lan's eyes.

However, back then, the situation had been pressing, so Ling Lan had not had a chance to discuss this with Chang Xinyuan. Ling Lan had believed that that was already Chang Xinyuan's most outstanding design, but unexpectedly, Chang Xinyuan had given her a great surprise. The one behind the first explosion of the enemy mecha was precisely this Chang Xinyuan who looked like he had the poorest combat capacity.

They were all using beam guns, but Chang Xinyuan's beam gun was not shooting the standard white beams. Instead, the beam from his gun had a thread of strange purple light running through it. This beam instantly eliminated the energy powering the beam shield and caused the mecha it hit to explode violently. Even at the time of explosion, Ling Lan could see slight traces of purple light within the flames ...

Meanwhile, the explosion of the other mecha was the result of Ling Lan and her original team members working together. Qi Long and the other four had not chosen to shoot randomly, choosing instead to attack the one target Ling Lan had selected. Struck by six beams at the same time, that mecha's beam shield had no way of holding out. The natural outcome of this was the explosive destruction of that mecha.

Battlefields were constantly changing — it did not allow for any distraction among the participating fighters. No one else noticed the strange power of Chang Xinyuan's beam gun other than Ling Lan. Qi Long and the others were merely secretly glad that their first attack had been so lucky as to eliminate two mecha. This was extremely advantageous to them.

The fight had just begun and the other side was already down two mecha. Both the team leaders and the team members on the other side returned fire indignantly. Beams shot out simultaneously from both sides, but compared to the other sides' brute force approach, Qi Long's group nimbly evaded the beams heading for them with agile and intricate steps.

Chapter 333: A Weakness Appears!

Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr

The steps Qi Long and the others used to evade were not movements that Li Shiyu and the other newer members were familiar with. Only the eyes of Li Lanfeng, who was still fighting the enemy spectres, lit up when he saw those moves. He had seen the rabbit use moves similar to these 7 years ago while they were practising for the assessment. It looked like these techniques must be unique arts from the rabbit's sect. Since Qi Long and the others could learn them, did this mean that he would also be able to learn these moves later on?

The reason why Li Lanfeng would be so taken by this set of steps was that each of the stepping points in the set was exceedingly strange, completely going against conventional logic and laws of inertia. Oftentimes, places which you did not think was possible to get to, you would be able to get there accurately using this set of footwork. This type of utterly unpredictable evasion method would cause all the enemies' attacks to strike air.

Just like Li Lanfeng predicted, this set of footwork which Qi Long and the others were currently displaying was indeed taught to them by Ling Lan. However, it was not like Li Lanfeng believed — these steps were not an exclusive art of Ling Lan's sect but were something Ling Lan had learned in the learning space. It was also the most basic evasion footwork for mecha available in the learning space.

This set of basic evasion footwork from the learning space had been derived over the accumulated tempering of time. Each step in the set was the fruit of concentrated effort from countless mecha operators within the Mandora star system over tens of thousands of years. Ling Lan had tested it — as long as one mastered this set of evasion footwork, learning any of the other so-called advanced evasion techniques of the Federation after that was extremely easy.

Having discovered the benefits, Ling Lan naturally did not forget about her companions. After obtaining permission from Instructor Number Three, she taught this set of footwork to Qi Long and the others. In order for them to integrate this footwork into their instincts, Ling Lan used extremely brutal and punishing training, just like Instructor Number Three had within the learning space, to force Qi Long and the others to rapidly become used to the steps.

Similarly, Qi Long and the others also thought that these steps were part of General Ling Xiao's legacy. After all, only a god-class operator could have such a strange and inexplicable set of footwork.

Li Lanfeng had already been obsessed with this wondrous set of footwork of the rabbit's ever since he first saw it seven years ago. Now, seeing that there was the possibility of learning it, he was instantly thrilled. This surge in emotion spurred his initially suppressed spectre power to expand rapidly in reaction, instantly flinging off one of the spectre powers attacking him fiercely.

"Pfft!" In the hidden room, one of the black-robed men suddenly threw up a mouthful of blood.

"Pete, what happened?" Seeing this, Carter's expression changed drastically.

"The opponent spectre's power suddenly became stronger. My attack was reflected back at me, so I suffered some injury." Pete rubbed at his brow with his fingers, beginning to soothe his somewhat chaotic spectre power after suffering from the counterattack.

"Could the opponent be playing around with us?" Carter's expression fluctuated uncertainly. The power of a typical spectre was stable and would not suddenly increase by so much at once. The only explanation he could think of was that the opponent had not been going all-out from the start.

Carter's words made Pete's expression change as well. "Then what do we do?" If the other was truly playing a pig to eat a tiger, then they were truly in a very bad position. No one wants to die, even if these people were spectres who had always been reaping the lives of others.

"D*mn, how much longer will they need to handle things over at the trap?" said Carter angrily. In order to ensure their safety, he had immediately contacted D2 who had been holding the fort at the heart of the base, telling him to inform D1 to send another spectre over to help as soon as possible.

D2 had responded quickly, telling Carter that there was a great fight around the trap at the moment. The enemy spectre there was extremely powerful, so they needed two spectres working together to kill the other. It would be difficult to pull either spectre out for the time being, so he could only ask that they continue to hold on.

D2's words implied that both sides were similarly fighting just one enemy spectre, so why did they need an extra hand when killing the enemy spectre at the trap was only a matter of time? In particular, the part where he told them to continue holding on was obviously tinged with contempt. This made Carter so angry he could feel the rage swell in his chest. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and say that they would take down the enemy spectre on their own, as long as the mecha warriors could handle all the other small fry; the connotation being that these mecha warriors sent by D2 were truly too weak.

These two were so at odds because spectres and hackers belonged to two separate systems in competition with one another, neither willing to back down. Spectres have always considered themselves the gods of the virtual world, able to dictate the life or death of everyone in the virtual world. Meanwhile, hackers were just an inferior bunch of rebels, unstable elements in the virtual world.

In contrast, hackers believed that they themselves were the true masters of the virtual world. They could alter the virtual world with their abilities, even turn the entire virtual world on its head. In their eyes, spectres were just a bunch of demons lurking within the virtual world, a bunch of revolting, dark stinkbugs that made them feel afraid even as they were filled with disgust ...

Carter angrily cut off his call with D2. If their superiors had not ordered their group of spectres to listen to the orders of the hackers from group D, he would have long have given the other a taste of what's what.

Knowing that they would not be getting any reinforcements, Carter and Pete held an emergency discussion and then decided to play it a little safer. This time, they would not attack one after the other, but instead attack together. Their original strategy of attacking one after the other was to not give the opponent any time to rest — it was a plan to exhaust the stamina of the other spectre. However, now, in view of the unfathomable power of the opponent, they decided it would be better to attack together for the sake of safety.

Thus, the two of them attacked Li Lanfeng at the same time. This combined spectre attack almost broke Li Lanfeng's layered spectre power defensive shield. He had initially been able to operate his mecha to dodge the enemy mecha's beam attacks, but now he could no longer spare the effort to do so. Against the simultaneous forceful attack of two spectres, Li Lanfeng needed to use all his strength to withstand it ...

During this time, as Qi Long and the others were dodging, they had managed to take down another three mecha by working together. Compared to how easy things seemed to be for Qi Long and the original team members, Li Shiyu was obviously struggling a lot more. He was hit several times by the enemy's beams, but luckily it was only one or two beams each time. With the protection of a beam shield, he had not taken any damage.

However, the situation soon took a turn for the worse. Li Lanfeng's strange behaviour had been noticed by quite a few of the enemy mecha. In contrast to the other unhittable mecha who were evading their attacks so mysteriously, Li Lanfeng's almost immobile mecha was an obvious sitting target. They all knew to go after the weakest link 1 , and so all the attacks of these mecha began to congregate onto Li Lanfeng's mecha.

As he was the closest to Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu was the first to see the threat to Li Lanfeng. He rushed forwards without hesitation to use his own mecha as a shield.

"Hells!" Qi Long and the others too became aware of the problem now. They all began to gather around Li Lanfeng, and this odd shift brought the attention of all the remaining enemy mecha who had initially been oblivious to the weakness of their team. The number of beams attacking Li Lanfeng's mecha increased even more — with this, even Qi Long and the others had no choice but to control their mecha to block some attacks and try to divert attention. The team was put into a passive position.

Ling Lan was just about to order Little Four to help Li Lanfeng finish off those two spectres when Chang Xinyuan operated his mecha to rush and stand before Li Lanfeng's mecha, shouting, "You all go and finish off the other mecha, I'll protect Li Lanfeng."

Following this cry, Chang Xinyuan's mecha suddenly transformed from a humanoid mecha into a large pot lid 2 . The large pot lid abruptly stretched and covered Li Lanfeng's mecha entirely ...

"Holy crap, Chang Xinyuan, what is this thing?!" Qi Long saw the other's mecha transform into this extremely black, large pot lid and could not help but exclaim in shock.

"One of my immature designs. I'm not very good at mecha piloting, so I was afraid of pulling down my battle clan in future. That's why I designed this most defensive solution. I call it Divine Turtle Shield. It's used to attract the enemy's fire, allowing my other teammates to attack freely ..." explained Chang Xinyuan, "But for now, I can only make this pot lid shape. It's rather far still from my original idea of a turtle's shell, and even its defensive strength is not at the standard I would like."

"How long can it hold out for?" Ling Lan asked as she continued to fire her beam gun. She pulled her trigger consecutively, attacking a particular mecha ten times in succession at the exact same spot, finally destroying that mecha completely.

"It's able to block the simultaneous attacks of 10 beam guns for 10 minutes. The other side has approximately 20 mecha left. I should still be able to hold out for 5 minutes." Hearing Boss Lan ask about his shield, Chang Xinyuan quickly answered without daring to include any irrelevant chatter. Facing Ling Lan, Chang Xinyuan was still rather timid.

"Good! Chang Xinyuan, mark this down as a merit for yourself. Lingtian Battle Clan, follow me!" With no more worries holding her back, Ling Lan gave this direct order and then charged on her own out into the fray.

Ling Lan was not a person who liked to attack passively; she liked taking the initiative. Since Li Lanfeng was being protected by Chang Xinyuan and would not be in any danger for the next five minutes, she decided to go head to head with the enemy. Only in this way would they be able to hinder the other side's unbridled attack on Li Lanfeng so Chang Xinyuan would be able to hold out for even longer.

As for those two spectres, Ling Lan was prepared to let Li Lanfeng continue playing with them, with Little Four acting as an alert guardian. Ling Lan felt that it was worth taking the risk if Li Lanfeng could gain a little more experience. After all, a battle between spectres was not so easy to come across.

Howling exuberantly, Qi Long and the others charged out after Ling Lan. Finally, the blades of the two sides clashed, and the enemy mecha's thoughts of steamrolling their opponent by relying on their numbers were thoroughly crushed by Ling Lan.

In order to bring her full combat power into play, Ling Lan was using the standard Federation advanced mecha which was at the same level as the enemy mecha. Meanwhile, Ling Lan's true level had long been at mecha master level though Ling Lan was unsure whether she was in special-class level or already in ace level. This was because she had promised her father before that before she managed to gather enough points in Mecha World to redeem an equivalent mecha, she would not cross-levels to operate a more advanced mecha.

Of course, when Ling Xiao had found out that the mission she had received this time was an SSS-rank mission, in order to ensure Ling Lan's safety, Ling Xiao had handed his own imperial mecha to her and permitted her to use it at critical moments. Thus, finally operating a more suitably advanced mecha, Ling Lan's sealed powers were beginning to manifest. Like a wolf let loose into a flock of sheep, she began her wild massacre.

A sharp roundhouse kick sent the 4 or 5 mecha around her flying. And as they were flailing around defenceless, she raised the beam gun in her right hand and sent a barrage of shots firing at those mecha's cockpits.

Her super strong close-range combat skills combined with perfect and accurate marksmanship caused three mecha to explode in an instant. Ling Lan's super strong attack power flabbergasted the surrounding enemy mecha. In unplanned unison, they actually stopped their attacks to stare dumbly at that fearsome mecha standing tall within the raging flames and thick smoke.