1182 - 1193

Chapter 1182 Holy Father!

"Ling Yi, after hearing their defense, all of them still seem suspicious to me. What do you think?" Li Lanfeng suddenly turned to look at the confused Ling Yi who was squatting on the ground while hugging his head in despair, seemingly wanting to hide away from the problem.

"I don't know. I really don't know." Ling Yi furiously shook his head. He didn't want to believe that his friends had betrayed him but now, he didn't know if he could trust his companions.

"What a pity. The person you have high hopes for can't help you." Li Lanfeng looked at the other five people with pity. Their faces turned even paler. They looked disappointed.

'We trusted you and were willing to give up everything to follow you. Yet, you don't trust us. You aren't even willing to speak up for us. Have you forgotten about the promise we made?'

Li Lanfeng smiled. 'Ling Yi, you're really too naive.'

"Since I gave everyone an opportunity to defend themselves, Hua Qingxin, I'll give you an opportunity too. Why did you say that? What made you say that?" Li Lanfeng's attitude was gentle. He was fair to all the people and didn't strip Hua Qingxin of his opportunity to defend himself.

Hua Qingxin looked at Li Lanfeng gratefully. He felt that Big Leader Li was the easiest person to talk to among all the team leaders (Most team leaders and veteran members of Lingtian knew Li Lanfeng's true personality, most of the new membersx were still oblivious to his manipulative side).

He controlled the fear in his heart and started thinking about the conversation they had on that day. When Yan Wuyou talked about how good it was to have siblings, he immediately thought of Xiaotao. He was the youngest among his siblings so his parents and siblings doted on him a lot. That was why he had such a positive and outgoing personality.

Why did he have such a strong impression?

Hua Qingxin didn't have any brothers but he had sisters. He had two older sisters and one younger sister. His mother brought him up herself so his personality was more towards the feminine side. His name was also similar to his older sisters'. They were called Hua Qingrui and Hua Qingmi. His mother must be too lazy to think of names so he named him after his sisters.

In most families, the only son would get a lot of love. However, the Hua family was different. Males were not important in the Hua family. Instead of the norm, his mother treated him as the outcast of the family. When he quarreled with his sisters, he would always be the one getting reprimanded, even if he wasn't the one who started it.

Sometimes, Hua Qingxin wondered why he wasn't a female. If he was female, he wouldn't have been treated so unfairly. His family environment made him feel inferior as a male so he tried his best to act more like a lady so that his mother would treat him better.

However, after he entered the Scout Academy, his feminine actions were disliked by other students. The students kept bullying him so he got more quiet and self-conscious as a person, creating a vicious cycle. In the end, Hua Qingxin slowly lost his confidence and accepted his fate.

If Ling Yi and his friends didn't come into his life and rescued him, he might have become a weakling that just allowed people to bully him. He might even commit suicide because of the constant teasing.

Hua Qingxin knew he wasn't a strong-willed person. He was able to achieve everything he had today with the help of his comrades.

Yet, someone with evil intentions was hiding among these people who had helped him selflessly.

Hua Qingxin looked at Tao Xiaotao. Tao Xiaotao always boasted about how much his family members doted on him. His siblings would give him any good food and would help him to take the blame whenever he created trouble. He was very envious of Tao Xiaotao. In the Hua family, he was always the scapegoat, whether he liked it or not.

Yes. He was envious and jealous of Tao Xiaotao. The treatment they received at home was totally different. That was why when Yan Wuyou talked about siblings, he thought of Tao Xiaotao.

But, this was just his own thoughts. Tao Xiaotao didn't purposely instill that thought in him. How could he push Tao Xiaotao out to clear his own name? Tao Xiaotao was already the most suspicious because of his message.

Tao Xiaotao narrowed his eyes when he saw Hua Qingxin looking at him.

Hua Qingxin looked at Li Lanfeng. There were tears in his eyes but he was smiling. "I'm sorry, Leader Li. I can't find any evidence to prove myself innocent."

He was always the weakest among his friends. If he took the blame, it might be good for everyone. He would take it as repaying his friends for their help and friendship for all those years.

Li Lanfeng squinted his eyes. He looked at Hua Qingxin in surprise. This was an unexpected outcome. On paper, Hua Qingxin was the weakest among the six people, but he was quite the strong young man in his mind.

"Hua Qingxin is not bad." Gu Dongyang took a liking for this young man too. Anyone that was willing to die for his comrades wouldn't be too bad.

"He has a weak personality but from the looks of it now, he has the potential to become a good soldier." Yang Mingzhi acknowledged this young soldier too.

"If he could pass this test, we can give him a chance." Gu Dongyang was deep in thought.

"That'll depend on whether Big Leader Li is willing to let him go. Although they're in the ZF department, they're part of Big Leader Li's mecha team." Yang Mingzhi pointed at Li Lanfeng with his mouth.

"Looks like I have to find some gifts for him," Gu Dongyang replied helplessly. Li Lanfeng acted too quickly. He moved these people under his wing so if he wanted Hua Qingxin, he had to request him from Li Lanfeng.

He could look for their regiment commander too but it would be embarrassing to disturb Ling Lan for such a small matter.

Gu Dongyang had a good impression of Hua Qingxin but that didn't mean that he was safe. He needed to pass this test first to prove that there was value in grooming him.

"Do you mean that you're the betrayer?" Li Lanfeng smiled ambiguously at him. He felt interesting to see such a holy father who was willing to sacrifice for his friends.

"I just hope that I won't implicate anyone else." Hua Qingxin closed his eyes.

'Let me be the end of everything.'

The other people looked at Hua Qingxin in surprise. They didn't expect him to be the betrayer. Tao Xiaotao muttered to himself, "How can it be you? How can it be you?"

"Do you really think that you can help your friends by bearing the charges?" Li Lanfeng suddenly asked coldly.

Chapter 1183 I'm Sorry!

Hua Qingxin anxiously looked at Li Lanfeng with shaken and constricted pupils in his eyes. The other five people understood what Li Lanfeng meant. They widened their eyes. 'Does he mean that Hua Qingxin wasn't the betrayer?'

"Maybe you are just pretending to sacrifice yourself but in actual fact, you just wanted to hide your true nature." Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows. The five young men felt their heart wavering again. Was Hua Qingxin the betrayer?

"Do you think that everything will be better if you take the blame? The real betrayer is still among your friends so the same situation might happen again. Who will be the one getting the blame next time?"

Li Lanfeng stood up and walked towards Hua Qingxin slowly. His gentle aura turned cold. The sudden force of presence caused Hua Qingxin to take a few steps back. He fell weakly on his chair.

Li Lanfeng leaned forward. "Hua Qingxin, don't you think your decision is stupid? You pushed your friends to hell. They will become the scapegoats of the betrayer. I wonder if they will hate you for your selfless sacrifice today when they go to hell. You caused them to miss the opportunity to catch the betrayer."

Hua Qingxin's mind collapsed under Li Lanfeng's questioning. He started shouting, "Stop talking! Please stop!" Why was taking the blame for his friends wrong? What should he do? What should he do?

"Qingxin, Leader Li is right. You shouldn't take the blame if you are not guilty. What you are doing now is a mistake. Any lack of information from you might cause the betrayer to escape." Yi Tiange, who had been keeping quiet from the start, suddenly spoke.

Hua Qingxin looked up immediately when he heard Yi Tiange. His eyes were shining as he looked at Yi Tiange. He seemed to have found his mental support.

Yi Tiange was their strategist. Even Ling Yi would listen to Yi Tiange before he acted. In their hearts, his position was second to Ling Yi.

Yi Tiange nodded at Hua Qingxin. He must explain himself. That was the only way they could find the truth.

Hua Qingxin closed his eyes and calmed himself down. When he opened them again, his gaze turned resolute.

"I said that because I was jealous of Tao Xiaotao. Tao Xiaotao's family must be the most loving family among the six of us. He is a commoner but his parents and siblings loved him so much." Hua Qingxin looked at Tao Xiaotao with a bitter smile. "Yet, he doesn't seem to know how fortunate he is. Familial love is something we don't have. Yet, he always boasts about his family in front of us. It's irritating."

Hua Qingxin sighed. "It might be because Tao Xiaotao always mentioned how his family dotes on him so it left a strong impression in my mind. Hence, when Wuyou talked about how jealous he was, I instantly thought of Tao Xiaotao."

Hua Qingxin looked at Li Lanfeng again. He said seriously, "Leader Li, no one lured me to say that. It's all because of my own jealous thoughts. I have two older sisters and one younger sister but they never dote on me. My older sisters look down on me while my younger sister ignores me. No matter who makes a mistake, I'll always be the one getting punished. The luckier Xiaotao was, the worse I feel. I got even more envious of him."

"I'm sorry. I have no clue who the betrayer is. I can't prove that I'm not the one too. I can only say my true thoughts. Finally, I just want to tell all of you that I'm not the betrayer." Hua Qingxin was firm. If everyone was innocent, he didn't mind taking the blame. However, there was a real traitor among them. His sacrifice would only allow the betrayer to harm his friends. He couldn't allow that.

"It came back to you again. Interesting. Tao Xiaotao, what do you have to say?" Li Lanfeng walked to Tao Xiaotao and smiled at him.

"I don't know. I just want to share my happiness with everyone. I didn't know they were jealous. I didn't know. I was just sharing. Why did it become like this? Why did it become like this?" Tao Xiaotao was agitated and hurt. He just wanted to spread his happiness with his friends, but it was taken the wrong way. He couldn't understand how it became like this.

He was so overwhelmed with emotions that he didn't know what to say. He just kept repeating the same words.

"Ling Yi, you're the leader of the team. Shouldn't you say something? Can't you see that everyone is waiting for you?" Li Lanfeng walked to Ling Yi and stared him down. His target was Ling Yi. He wouldn't allow him to remain quiet.

Ling Yi raised his head slowly. His eyes were bloodshot. He glared at Li Lanfeng with hatred. This was the person who caused him to be in such a situation. He was the one who forced him to suspect everyone. He now didn't even dare to look at his friends. He was afraid of their hopeful gaze.

Damn it, he didn't know who to believe. The trust they had for one another collapsed amidst all the suspicion.

"Ling Yi, you don't believe anyone!" Li Lanfeng mocked him. He looked at the other five people with pity as he noticed their disheartened gaze. Li Lanfeng's words had already left a scar in their hearts. Even if they understood Ling Yi's intention, it still hurt them.

"No. I trust them. However, Young Master Lan is my bottomline. No one can touch that. Someone among them chose to harm Young Master Lan, and I can't forgive that. Even if there is only a slight suspicion, I won't let it go. I rather kill a thousand than to make such a mistake. You all trusted the wrong person. I'm sorry!" Ling Yi shouted angrily.

Tears fell down Ling Yi's eyes. He didn't want to suspect his childhood friends. They had fought hard together and went through thick and thin together. He wanted to tell them that he believed them. Even if they had to go to the military court, he would accompany them.

Unfortunately, the moment he was born, he wasn't able to live for himself. Since he was young, he was told that he was Ling Lan's loyalist. He must grow stronger and return to Ling Lan's side. He needed to take over his father's role and protect the next family head of the Ling family.

Thus, to become more powerful, he accepted the Ling family's help and learned the physical skills from them. He took the gene agents from the Ling family. He knew that this was the only way he could take over his father's role quickly and help Ling Lan.

Chapter 1184 Reminder!

Ling Lan was Ling Yi's belief system. She was why Ling Yi existed. Hence, Ling Yi would never allow anyone to harm her. This time, someone he trusted betrayed him and harmed the most important person in his heart. Ling Yi broke down.

Yi Tiange and the other four people frowned. Only now did they understand how important Ling Lan was to Ling Yi. He was willing to give up anything for Ling Lan.

Li Lanfeng frowned too. He looked at Ling Yi coldly. He walked slowly towards him and leaned forward until his face was an inch away from Ling Yi's face. His voice was cold. "Stupid people have no right to follow our regiment commander. Ling Yi, you're one of them."

Ling Yi's pupils dilated as he glared at Li Lanfeng. He gritted his teeth in anger. "One day, I'll reveal your true face to Young Master Lan!"

"That's why I say you're stupid. You're a suspect. You need to know when you should lower your head." Li Lanfeng raised his right hand and pressed Ling Yi's head down.

Boom! Ling Yi slammed into the ground. He couldn't move.

"Li Lanfeng! Do you think I'll beg for mercy? In your dreams!" Blood flowed down Ling Yi's mouth but he remained stubborn.

"Cough, Big Leader Li, before we ascertain that Ling Yi is guilty, we shouldn't be too harsh on him," Yang Mingzhi said helplessly. The calm and logical Li Lanfeng always lost control of his emotions when dealing with matters that concerned Ling Lan. 'Regiment commander, do you know how many people you've harmed through Li Lanfeng?'

Li Lanfeng straightened his back. He took out a white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his right hand slowly. After he felt that his hand was clean, he threw the handkerchief into the dustbin.

"Alright, let's go back to the main topic." Li Lanfeng returned to his seat.

"You should know Ling Yi's attitude now. As long as you can't prove your innocence, he will be suspicious of you." Li Lanfeng's tone returned to being gentle, but the scene just now left a deep impression in everyone. When Yi Tiange and the other four people heard the gentle tone, a chill ran down their spines.

Was Big Leader Li as gentle and mild-mannered as everyone said?

"How about this? Let me remind you, the video that Ling Yi took is very large in size so it's hard to download the video within a few seconds. If someone wants to get the video, there are two ways. One is to get a copy from the mecha and the other is to get it from the person who took the video." Li Lanfeng smiled brightly. "Hence, Ling Yi might be the one who reported our regiment commander. Everything he said before this is just to clear his suspicion."

Ling Yi was struggling to get up when he heard this. He vomited a mouth of blood in anger and his face turned hideous. "You… you're framing me."

Li Lanfeng cupped his chin and smiled like a fox. "From the very beginning, you are the most suspicious with Tao Xiaotao." He pointed to the virtual screen. "You were the one who recorded this, and no one forced you to do that. Just this video is enough to prove that you wanted to harm our regiment commander."

"You knew the reason why I took the video." Ling Yi was furious.

"No, I don't. I just know that this video was sent by the person who framed our regiment commander." Li Lanfeng gave a weird smile. If he wanted to take down someone, he wouldn't have any chance of escaping.

"What do you think?" Li Lanfeng ignored Ling Yi who was red with anger. He directed his question at Yi Tiange and the four people.

The five of them looked at each other. Li Lanfeng's intention was obvious. But, could they really suspect Ling Yi?

Yi Tiange shook his head. "It might be possible if this was any other person. However, it's our regiment commander. Ling Yi wouldn't harm him."

Yan Wuyou and Rong Ziruo hesitated but they nodded in the end. They supported what Yi Tiange said.

"What about you, Tao Xiaotao?" Li Lanfeng asked the quiet Tao Xiaotao.

Tao Xiaotao shook his head in a flurry. He stammered, "I don't know…"

"Oh? You suspect Ling Yi?" Li Lanfeng was interested.

"I don't know. Brother Yi always wanted to follow the regiment commander ever since he was in the military academy. He always emphasised that to us. In the past, I believed him totally. But now, I don't know what to believe." Tao Xiaotao seemed to be in a dilemma. He struggled for a moment before continuing, "However, I still believe in Brother Yi. He has been working hard to achieve his goal for so many years. He doesn't seem to be lying."

Ling Yi calmed down because of his friends' trust. He showed his distrust for them but they didn't forsake him. Even if Tao Xiaotao wasn't as certain as the other people, he still chose to believe him in the end. He was grateful to them.

"Have you finally calmed down?" Li Lanfeng smiled and turned to look at Ling Yi when he realised his condition. He was like a cat playing with a mouse. He enjoyed seeing how the mouse would escape from his claws.

Ling Yi looked at Li Lanfeng with a dumbfounded look. Just now, he was framing him, so why was he helping him now?

"That's why I said that you're stupid. I've already reminded you but you still don't know what the main point is." Li Lanfeng shook his head in exasperation. The contempt in his eyes was obvious. Ling Yi's anger exploded.

'I can't lose my control because of him.' Ling Yi finally calmed down after Li Lanfeng provoked him so many times.

'What did Li Lanfeng say just now? Besides personally sending the video, the only other way of getting the video is to go to my mecha and copy it.' Ling Yi finally found the main point.

"Who entered my mecha?" Ling Yi looked up and asked.

Li Lanfeng smiled but didn't reply to him.

"Don't tell me there's no surveillance in the mecha hold. You must have evidence." Ling Yi said with certainty.

The other five young men looked at Li Lanfeng too. They hoped that Li Lanfeng could clear their names of suspicion.

"You want to take a look? Sure." Li Lanfeng didn't reject them. He played the video from the surveillance camera.

But, the situation wasn't like what they think. Yi Tiange and the other four people did visit the mecha hold during that time but no one went to Ling Yi's mecha. There was not enough evidence to prove that one of them had copied the video.

The five people heaved a sigh of relief. They were afraid that they went close to Ling Yi's mecha unknowingly and got suspected because of that.

However, before they could relax, Li Lanfeng smiled. "Oh, there's more to the video."

Chapter 1185 Shadow King!

Because of Ling Yi, the five of them had stayed together in the same team they created together since the Scout Academy days called 'ZF'. They had always talked, shared great memories, shared their woes with each other.

That day, they came together to inspect the mecha hold and the mecha engineers maintaining their mechas with a serious expression, so they just stood there and quietly watched the whole process. They didn't want to disturb the engineers.

However, something happened. One of the logisticians accidentally tripped and his body fell onto a mecha engineer. The mecha engineer fumbled and accidentally pressed a button on his work station, causing the alarm of the mecha he was working on to deafen everyone's ears. It alerted everyone in the mecha hold.

The logisticians immediately rushed towards the alarm to stop it. While the logisticians were rampaging through the mecha hold to stop the alarm, Tao Xiaotao was easily knocked over due to his small size. In a flurry, he hurriedly grabbed the panel of a work station in order to prevent himself from falling. Yi Tiange and others saw his plight and quickly came to help him up. However, due to the pushing and shoving of the crowd, they touched another work station while the way to rescue Tao Xiaotao.

The six people looked at each other with confusion in their eyes. Why did Li Lanfeng show this to them? Even in the midst of the constant shoving and pushing, they were very far away from their mechas. There was no footage of them touching the mechas.

"Do you want to know why I show you that?" Li Lanfeng smiled. "Let me show you which mecha is linked to the work station."

When they heard the answer to their confusion, their expressions turned grave. They were all smart people so they definitely could guess which mecha did this work station link to. As expected, after the footage zoomed out, the linked mecha was Ling Yi's mecha.

"But the person can't hack the mecha through the work station, right? Even an imperial hacker won't be able to hack the optical supercomputer of a mecha that quickly." Yi Tiange refuted. If this fact wasn't brought up, all five of them would be suspicious.

"You have to ask Ling Yi if he had ever leaked his passcode to anyone. Anyone that has the passcode, along with the ability of an imperial hacker, will be able to get into the mecha's superoptical computer in an instant. The group of you stood there for more than a minute so there's ample time to download the video."

Ling Yi's face looked so pale as if there was no more blood in his body. He looked at his friends with an apologetic gaze. Then, his gaze landed on Tao Xiaotao and his lips started trembling. He didn't if his lips were trembling because of the shock, disappointment, or that he just wanted to cry.

Finally, he bit his lips and yelled with a hoarse voice as he spitted out the name of his worst enemy syllable by syllable , "Tao. Xiao. Tao!"

Tao Xiaotao shrunk back in fear of the monster his leader had suddenly turned into. His face was pale as he shouted back, "Brother Yi, how could you suspect me?"

Ling Yi stood up and walked over with heavy footsteps. "How could I not! Only you have asked me for my passcode!"

He didn't directly tell Tao Xiaotao his passcode. Instead, it was through Tao Xiaotao's continuous probing guesses that one day he finally found out his passcode. When he heard his passcode coming out of Tao Xiaotao's mouth, he smiled nonchalantly at Tao Xiaotao's correct guess and just loosely told him to forget about it. After all, allowing Tao Xiaotao to know about his passcode wasn't a really big deal to him back then. He always treated Tao Xiaotao as his younger brother so he wasn't concerned about Tao Xiaotao using his passcode against him. To a normal citizen, knowing a mecha's passcode would usually almost equate to nothing, but it to an imperial hacker, it would open up many new possibilities.

Tao Xiaotao furiously shook his head. "Brother Ling, it's not me. It really isn't me. I was just curious. You didn't tell me anything, right? I don't know any passcode. I don't know."

"But you constantly probed me for my passcode during our daily conversations." Ling Yi closed his eyes and opened them after a while. His gaze was firm. "Tao Xiaotao, I don't know how you became an imperial hacker but all the evidence point to you. I will not believe you again."

"Brother Yi, Brother Yi, if you think that I'm guilty, prove that I'm an imperial hacker. I have never awoken any hacking abilities. How can I be an imperial hacker? Brother Yi, you can't suspect me just like this. Brother Yi, I didn't do it." Tao Xiaotao started crying loudly. He was frightened by the sudden accusation.

Ling Yi's anger subsided a little. Tao Xiaotao already had an innate talent of the wind element. It was rare for someone to have two innate talents. The advancement of someone with two innate talents was much slower than a normal person. Based on Tao Xiaotao's age, even if he was a genius, it was impossible for him to advance to the imperial level so quickly. Did he falsely accuse Tao Xiaotao?

Ling Yi looked at Li Lanfeng instinctively. Li Lanfeng shook his head secretly in disappointment when he noticed the gaze. He had no more confidence in the intelligence of the loyalists in the Ling family. They spend so much effort grooming Ling Yi but look at him now, blankly looking at him with a dazed gaze. How much better could the other loyalists be? No wonder Ling Lan had to handle everything on his own. Li Lanfeng couldn't help but feel vex for Ling Lan's misfortune.

However, Li Lanfeng maintained his expressionless face. He raised his eyebrows at Ling Yi before turning to Tao Xiaotao. "Are you really Tao Xiaotao?"

Everyone went dazed as they creepily turned their heads to Tao Xiaotao.

Even Yang Mingzhi and the team leaders were unable to remain calm.

"Indeed, the real Tao Xiaotao doesn't have this ability but you have. Should I call you Shadow King?" Li Lanfeng smiled as he revealed a secret.

"Shadow King!" Yang Mingzhi and Gu Dongyang exclaimed in astonishment.

Luo Lang, Zhao Jun, and Ling Yi were puzzled while Xie Yi was in deep thought.

"Who is Shadow King?" Luo Lang was curious so when he noticed Xie Yi's knowing expression, he grabbed Xie Yi's arm and asked him.

Usually, Xie Yi would even spare a glance at the person asking him even if the person was on his knees begging him, but this was Luo Lang. Even if he didn't know anything, he would find an answer.

Xie Yi told Luo Lang what he heard before. "The Shadow King is an imperial hacker who had gained great fame from the virtual world around 30 years ago. His techniques had reached the imperial level too. He was recognised as the hacker with the highest chance of becoming a god-class hacker."

"However, 20 years ago, he disappeared. His name became a taboo subject in the Federation. There were no traces of him in the annals of time as if he never existed. Not many people from our generation know of him. His data is only left in the secret database of some elite families. This database can only be read by the important people from the families. However, Li Lanfeng belonged to the branch family. How did he know of this person?"

"That means that Shadow King should be around 40 years old, right? How could it be Tao Xiaotao?" Luo Lang looked at Tao Xiaotao's young face. This man was obviously only 20 years old.

Xie Yi shrugged. "We'll see what Brother Feng says."

Tao Xiaotao shuddered when he heard the Shadow King. He looked up innocently and asked Li Lanfeng, "What did you say? Who is Shadow King?"

Chapter 1186 Other Plans?

"During a previous mission with the regiment commander, we visited a base which conducted human experiments. Based on the data we collected over there, this base is investigating the secrets to longevity as well as domain realm activation. The most frightening thing was that they were able to replicate certain innate talents while also speeding up the advancement of human abilities. For instance, they could make a test subject enter the domain realm at the young age while making hackers of high caliber. We met many 15-year-olds who were domain realm masters during our excursion. However, they were fake domain realm masters," Li Lanfeng explained indifferently.

Everyone was flabbergasted by the continuous bombs getting dropped at them with each sentence spewing out of Li Lanfeng's out. Even in the Flying Dragon Special Forces, a 20-year-old domain realm master was considered a once-in-a-century genius. If someone managed to enter the domain stage at 15 years old, he would be as god-like as their regiment commander.

Tao Xiaotao still appeared confused by Li Lanfeng's shocking statements.

"Longevity seems like a fantasy but we have realised that they had made some breakthrough in their experiment. The details of the experiment were destroyed along with the base so we couldn't get ahold of the detail. We have no clue what they have concluded from their experiments." Li Lanfeng looked at Tao Xiaotao coldly. "However, we still found a list of the people who participated in this experiment, and one name in particular caught my attention. It was Shadow King!"

"No matter how you hide, you won't be able to hide your trademarks. That video was embedded in the message. The ability used to do that is the unique ability of Shadow King, Shadow Link." Li Lanfeng smiled happily. He was confident as he continued, "Unfortunately, we have a hacker who deeply understands your signature traits. We manage to find the source using Shadow Link. At the same time, we corroborated with the surveillance video. Tao Xiaotao, Shadow King, it's you!"

Tao Xiaotao's confused expression disappeared. He turned calm as he numbly asked, "Is it Immortal?" When he listened to Li Lanfeng's detailed analysis, he knew that he couldn't escape anymore so he gave up the clueless facade.

"Hmm?" Li Lanfeng raised his eyebrows.

"Besides that irritating Immortal, no one knows of Shadow Link. It was my oversight for not thinking that he is hiding here." Tao Xiaotao scoffed.

Every hacker had a rival. Shadow King's rival was Immortal. They had been opponents ever since he debuted in the secular world. Immortal was always ruining his every plan. It was his fault for not factoring Immortal's disturbance in his plan. He was careless. He thought that there wouldn't be any powerful hackers in such a newly advanced mecha clan. Yet, Immortal was hiding here. Immortal exposed him.

Li Lanfeng realized Tao Xiaotao had a misunderstanding but he didn't correct him, as his misunderstanding was a good way to protect Ling Lan. He was happy to see this misunderstanding.

"I accept my defeat. However, I have only one last wish. Let me see my eternal rival, Immortal." Tao Xiaotao gritted his teeth. He wanted to know what Immortal looked like. That way, even if he went to hell, he would be able to curse him.

"I'm sorry. He doesn't like visitors." Li Lanfeng would never expose Ling Lan.

"What a coward. Immortal, come out!" Tao Xiaotao shouted agitatedly as he tried to struggle out of the surrounding soldiers' grasp. If the soldiers hadn't held him down, he might have rushed out of the meeting room.

"Bring him away." Li Lanfeng told the soldiers who were suppressing Tao Xiaotao.

"Yes!" The soldiers bowed. As they were about to leave, Ling Yi charged forward and grabbed Tao Xiaotao's shoulders. He was indignant. "Where is Tao Xiaotao?"

Tao Xiaotao frowned. Then, he sneered. "Of course he's dead."

"Bastard!" Ling Yi raised his fist and punched Tao Xiaotao's face.

Tao Xiaotao's face turned red and swollen. Blood flowed from his mouth. His expression was sinister but there was exhilaration in his eyes. "Hit me! Hit me again! The body you're hitting belongs to Tao Xiaotao. Unfortunately, it is just a body. HAHAHA!"

Ling Yi narrowed his eyes and lowered his fist. He couldn't bear to hit him again.

Li Lanfeng glanced at the soldiers to signal them to quickly go. They quickly dragged the delirious Tao Xiaotao out of the room, leaving behind Ling Yi and his friends. They were filled with anguish as they looked at their once-friend.

"As for you, it wasn't your intention to harm Ling Lan but you were the source of everything that had happened. If you didn't film the video, everything wouldn't have happened. As per protocol, you have to be punished. I'll lock you up and wait for the regiment commander to come out from his closed-door meditation." Yang Mingzhi and the other team leaders raised their eyebrows in mild surprise. They thought Li Lanfeng would use this opportunity to get rid of Ling Yi but instead, he waited for Ling Lan to make the final verdict.

Ling Yi accepted his verdict. He broke the rules first. He was the cause of everything. In his mind, he should definitely be punished.

Yi Tiange and his friends watched Ling Yi as he got taken away. None of them said anything in the process. Suspicion tore the trust between them. They told themselves that they must understand Ling Yi's predicament but a broken heart wouldn't heal so quickly. They would never be as close as before.

Even among the four of them, there was a slight air of awkwardness. It would take some effort to mend their relationships to the back it was before.

Some things couldn't be taken back after it was spoken.

Li Lanfeng smiled as he tidied his files. On his face, there was a beautiful but frightening smile.

In the secret room, Ling Lan suddenly opened her eyes.

A few seconds later, the door opened and a familiar figure walked in.

Li Lanfeng closed the door before taking his mask off. He smiled brightly as he walked towards Li Lanfeng.

"You're in a good mood." The happiness Li Lanfeng was exuding was overwhelming. Every single emotion he was displaying seemed to be telling Ling Lan 'Ask me why I'm happy!'. It felt wrong if she didn't ask him.

"Yes." Li Lanfeng continued smiling.

Ling Lan closed her eyes and asked calmly, "What is the good news?"

Ling Lan started chanting the Heart Sutra in her mind to stop herself from being seduced by Li Lanfeng.

Why is Li Lanfeng seducing her so frequently recently? Did his seducing skills get better? Ling Lan remembered Luo Lang. When Luo Lang got stronger, he would get prettier too. Maybe Li Lanfeng was like that too

"I locked Ling Yi up." Li Lanfeng sat beside Ling Lan and stared at her intently.

"You have other plans?" Ling Lan raised her eyebrows. It seemed like Li Lanfeng still had some use for Ling Yi. If not, Li Lanfeng would have got rid of him.

Chapter 1187 It's All Your Fault!

"That faction is willing to send Shadow King to follow him. This means that he is very important to them. Ling Yi is quite useless now but useless things can be recycled too." Li Lanfeng smiled.

"Do you think that I'll be happy? He is part of the Ling family." Ling Lan glanced at Li Lanfeng to warn him to not be too excited.

"Really?" Li Lanfeng smiled and leaned closer to Ling Lan. Ling Lan's heart started pounding furiously as Li Lanfeng's face got closer to hers.

But, Ling Lan was still Ling Lan. She had seen all kinds of young and handsome youths before so she learned to remain composed and unaffected. Her ice-cold facade couldn't be easily broken with just Li Lanfeng's smile.

She calmly retracted her gaze and replied, "I won't interfere in this matter. However, I can't disappoint my loyalists. Be careful of what you do. Don't go overboard."

Li Lanfeng smiled even brighter when he heard Ling Lan's reply. Since Ling Lan let him take care of Ling Yi, it meant that he was part of Ling Lan's family now, right?

He felt something sweet brewing in his heart. Li Lanfeng knew that this was just his own wishful thoughts but he wanted to remain in the dream.

'Ling Lan, stop pampering me like this!' What was left of his logical side shouted helplessly.

The more Ling Lan trusted him, the greedier he would get. Li Lanfeng felt that his love for Ling Lan was losing control.

"Ling Lan…" Li Lanfeng groaned in pain. He weakly fell forward.

Ling Lan quickly caught him, stopping him from falling on the ground.

"What's the matter?" Ling Lan frowned. There was concern in her eyes. "Let me call Shiyu over."

Li Lanfeng's hands quickly reached out to stop her from contacting Li Shiyu using her communicator. "There is no need. It's an old issue. Just let me rest for a moment."

His face scrunched up in pain. His entire body seemed to be experiencing excruciating pain.

Ling Lan knew what this felt like. In her past life, she had experienced this pain too. Even if Shiyu came, he would only be able to alleviate the pain.

She understood the feeling so she didn't let go of Li Lanfeng's hand. She wanted to give him some mental support.

Li Lanfeng smiled secretly. He slowly leaned towards Ling Lan's chest and felt the cold aura around her. He was so happy that he wouldn't regret even if he died now.

"Remember to practice the Qi exercises." Ling Lan reminded him patiently when she noticed Li Lanfeng was feeling better.

"Okay." Li Lanfeng couldn't stop smiling as he could sense Ling Lan's worry in her tone. He quickly started practicing the Qi exercises.

Ling Lan heaved a sigh of relief when Li Lanfeng started his exercises.

Li Lanfeng practiced the Qi exercises a little too late which had caused the recovery of his illness to be snail-pace. Every time he advanced in terms of physical skills, he would receive a backlash. Only the Qi exercises and the third generation of Nuwa gene agent, created by Li Shiyu and Little Four, were able to help him.

Ultimately, the root of the illness was still unsolved. The only way he could totally recover was if he stopped advancing. However, that was impossible. Ling Lan knew Li Lanfeng's dream. He wanted to stand and fight alongside her. He would never give up his dream even if he was constantly tormented by pain.

Sometimes, Ling Lan felt that she treated Li Lanfeng differently from her other companions. Was it because he reminded her of her past life?

Maybe this was the truth. She felt pity for Li Lanfeng just like how she felt pity for herself in her past life. To Ling Lan, saving Li Lanfeng was like saving her past life.

"Li Lanfeng, you must get better," Ling Lan softly said.

She tightly hugged the beauty in her arms. She felt as if she was hugging her past weak self, the person who wanted to cry but could only smile on the surface, the person that wanted to receive consolation but never did.

A pair of strong hands suddenly reached out and hugged her waist. Ling Lan was stunned as Li Lanfeng said in a hoarse voice, "I'll definitely get better."

Suddenly, she felt wet on her chest. Ling Lan realized Li Lanfeng must have felt touched by her words so he cried in her arms.

Ling Lan felt a little speechless. She looked at the ceiling of the secret room in exasperation. 'Fine… misunderstandings are beautiful. Let him stay in his dream. I can't tell him the truth and break the beauty's heart, right?'

'Ling Lan, you're too good to me. How can I bear to let you go? I don't care. This is your fault. You give me hope. Let's go to hell together!'

Li Lanfeng gave a weird smile. His gaze was firm and sinister.

After Li Lanfeng's emotions got stabilized, Ling Lan patted his back lightly. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes." Li Lanfeng took a deep breath and squeezed out a word. He couldn't bear to let Ling Lan go.

"Then, sit up straight."

'Do you think I'm a pillow? My arms are getting tired from hugging you.'

Li Lanfeng knew that he couldn't keep lying on Ling Lan so he begrudgingly got up. When he recalled how shamelessly he was when he laid in Ling Lan's chest, he felt a little shy. There was a faint blush on his beautiful face, making his embarrassed expression seductive.

Why did he feel embarrassed when he was such a shameless person? Well, this was his first touchy experience. This was the first time he made a move on Ling Lan too. He didn't have any experience so it was normal that he would feel embarrassed.

'Damn it! The beauty attack is undefeatable!'

Ling Lan swallowed her saliva secretly. She thought that Li Lanfeng felt embarrassed because he had cried just now. She didn't want the air around them to be awkward so she changed the topic. "How will you take care of Shadow King?"

Ling Lan was very interested in Shadow King.

Li Lanfeng's embarrassed expression instantly turned normal again. He replied Ling Lan with a serious face, "I've already sent him to Li Shiyu. I reminded Li Shiyu to inspect Tao Xiaotao's body thoroughly. I want to know how they're able to substitute someone so perfectly."

Ling Lan agreed with Li Lanfeng's plan. She stood up and said, "Let's go and watch Shiyu together. He might give us some useful clues." Little Four had already analyzed all the information he got from the base on Planet Azure. However, without a body, he couldn't confirm his hypothesis. So, visiting Li Shiyu would be a good opportunity to ascertain his hypothesis.

Chapter 1188 Memory Replication?

Little Four was elated when he sensed Ling Lan's thoughts. Sob, Boss finally remembered him.

After a while, the two of them came to Li Shiyu's laboratory. It was the most highly guarded laboratory in Base Nebula.

Li Shiyu's laboratory was like Lingtian's treasure chest. All the amazing agents were kept here. Even without Ling Lan's order, the team leaders would send their subordinates to guard this area. If someone managed to steal from the laboratory, all the team leaders could commit suicide out of shame and anger.

Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng passed through many rounds of inspection before arriving at the laboratory.

Li Shiyu was the only person in the laboratory. The current matter he was handling was linked to the sensitive subject of live human experiments, so Li Shiyu couldn't let anyone else take part in it.

Li Shiyu heard the sound of footsteps coming towards his laboratory so he quickly stepped away from his experiments and got out of his laboratory to see who the visitors were. When he saw Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng, he nodded his head and lead them in his laboratory. He walked to the body lying on white desk. He grabbed the clipboard on the side, observed the data on the clipboard and compared it with the information the device was showing him.

Ling Lan walked to Li Shiyu and asked softly, "How's his condition?".

"He was agitated when he came in but after a bottle of anesthesia, he became silent, just like Little White." Li Shiyu joked.

"How is Little White? Is it awake?" Ling Lan finally remembered her stupid pet.

volution is taking a long time. I don't know what he ate. Why is he taking so long to digest it?" When Little White wasn't following Li Lanfeng, it would spend its time at the laboratory being examined by Li Shiyu. Hence, Li Shiyu concluded Little White's evolution depended on the things it ate. What a lucky life. All it needed to become powerful was to eat.

"It has an indestructible stomach. It wouldn't get indigestion." Ling Lan wasn't worried. Little White said that its stomach was a different pocket space so indigestion wouldn't harm it. The food might just be thrown into a corner of the space.

"What did you find out about Tao Xiaotao?" Ling Lan's attention came back to Tao Xiaotao.

"Besides certain cells that are more active than normal, everything is normal." Li Shiyu frowned. He inspected the body for many hours but no anomaly was found.

"But the ability he used is Shadow Link." Ling Lan frowned too. If there was nothing wrong with Tao Xiaotao, how could he become an imperial hacker at such a young age? Little Four said Tao Xiaotao's ability was the same as Shadow King. If it was a different person, there would be a difference in the application of the ability.

Ling Lan would suspect anyone if they said the claim but she wouldn't suspect Little Four. If he said Tao Xiaotao was Shadow King, he was.

"There is only one possibility. Memory replication." Li Shiyu suggested a proposition by the medical world many years ago.

"It was proved that it was a wild fantasy, right?" There were experiments done to determine the relevance of this proposition, but all the experiments ended in a failure. Little Four wasn't interested in this so he hadn't dug deeper into the subject.

"My mentor told me that the experiments had failed but some people were unwilling to give up. After the Federation forbade this experiment, these people went into hiding. They might have achieved some results of years of research," Li Shiyu replied.

"Memory replication?" Ling Lan remembered Gu Zhengrong who had the ability to replicate her father's innate talent. She sensed the similarity between them.

'It's the people from Planet Azure. Are they targeting me?' Ling Lan was sure that the assassination and the mission she took were all linked.

'Who are the ones trying to harm the Ling family? What is their motive?'

"I don't think that they belong to the same faction. The people that attacked you and the faction which Tao Xiaotao belonged to might just be working together." Li Lanfeng interrupted Ling Lan's thoughts.

"Oh?" Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and waited for Li Lanfeng's explanation.

"At that time, you were just a child. You haven't displayed your talent or potential yet. Unless they were tipped off, they wouldn't take notice of you. Also, based on the ability of the organisation on Planet Azure, you won't be able to escape if they were the ones attempting to kill you." Li Lanfeng pointed out the truth. What they discovered on Planet Azure was just the tip of the iceberg.

"That's true. Based on my analysis, it should be my father's enemy in the military. He used his power in the military but he concealed himself perfectly so no clues were found."

Thinking about it now, it must be a general from the military. This person had control over hackers so he was able to discover the existence of Little Four. However, Little Four had matured now, he would fall into such single schemes anymore.

"Actually, we already knew that without help from someone in the military, this person wouldn't be able to evade the surveillance of the military and build such a base on Planet Azure. However, no matter how powerful a general is, he couldn't control such a huge organization. Even the three great marshals don't have this ability."

Li Lanfeng smiled as he continued, "We should be glad that the military forbids elite families to gain more power. It prevents generals from shaking the foundation of the military. Thus, the general and the organisation probably belong to different factions. There is a higher probability that they are just working together. Of course, the general might pull the organisation into his wing but in that case, the general will only be a subordinate and not the commander."

"Yes. It's impossible for a general to control such a huge organisation. It's probably a collaborative effort. The general might also just be a subordinate and not the mastermind." Ling Lan frowned. She knew that her father had already found the person who tried to assassinate her. Would he offend the unknown organisation because of this?

How messy!

Ling Lan felt a little dizzy. She closed her eyes and arranged the information in her head. After she opened her eyes, she could feel her thoughts getting clearer

"It has been such a long time but only a hacker was sent to follow Ling Yi. This might mean that the faction doesn't want to anger my father. Based on that, a collaboration is most likely the answer." Ling Lan arrived at a conclusion.

As expected, Li Lanfeng was best at scheming. He managed to find the truth almost immediately. In the future, Ling Lan decided to pass such matters to Li Lanfeng. She knew her weakness was in scheming. Plus, she shouldn't waste Li Lanfeng's talent.

Chapter 1189 Innate Talent Replication!

While Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng were finding the relationship between Ling Lan's assassination and the organisation on Planet Azure, Little Four, who was inspecting Tao Xiaotao, suddenly shouted excitedly in Ling Lan's mindscape, "Boss, Boss!"

"What is it?" Ling Lan asked.

"I sense some fluctuation in Tao Xiaotao's brain. The fluctuation of the wavelength is similar to a product from Mandora." This was the first time Little Four discovered a trace of his home galaxy, Mandora. He was shaking with excitement, making his plump cheeks ever so giggly.

"What?" Ling Lan was dumbstruck. She had always thought Little Four was the only trace of Mandora in her galaxy as the Mandora Galaxy was just too far away from them. Ling Lan couldn't even imagine that another creation from Mandora would be able to enter her galaxy. Yet, Little Four claimed that he found something from Mandora.

"Wait. The fluctuation is so small. I almost lost it. Let me feel it properly." Little Four couldn't reply to Ling Lan as he was still in the midst of feeling out the fluctuation, so Ling Lan had no choice but to remain patient.

Li Lanfeng was surprised when Ling Lan suddenly stopped talking. He turned his head to the side and glanced at Ling Lan. He realized she was looking intently at Tao Xiaotao.

He whispered softly, "Did you discover something?"

Ling Lan nodded at Li Lanfeng, before turning her attention back to Tao Xiaotao.

Li Lanfeng knew that Ling Lan must have made an important discovery so he didn't dare to disturb Ling Lan. He quickly placed his index finger on his lips, signalling to Li Shiyu to be quiet.

After a few minutes, Little Four shouted in her mindscape, "It appeared again. I finally caught it."

"What is it? Is it really from Mandora?" Ling Lan was serious. If this was related to Mandora, things would get complicated.

"It has the aura of Mandora but it's slightly different. Let me confirm it again. Damn it, why is the fluctuation so tiny," Little Four muttered.

A few minutes past again. Little Four's angry and disappointed tone was heard. "It's just a low-quality replica. How disappointing."

"Replica?" Ling Lan relaxed. She would be worried if it was really from Mandora, it might mean an alien invasion. Fortunately, it was a replica. However, since there was a replica, the real item must exist too. Where was the real item? Who had it?

Ling Lan and Little Four thought of the same thing. But, their reactions were totally different. Little Four was elated while Ling Lan was worried.

"Little Four, what replica is it?" It's better to prepare beforehand.

"It's similar to a mecha learning device like me. It's a replica of an innate talent creation device." Little Four replied.

"An innate talent creation device?" This was an unfamiliar name.

"It's used to create innate talents for children who couldn't awaken their own innate talent. However, the innate talent created through this device won't evolve so the person will remain at the bottom of the society, but this is just a low-quality replica. It can't pick and choose innate talents like the real thing. There is only one innate talent in it." Little Four explained.

"Huh? Weird, they changed this part." Little Four was surprised.

"What is the matter?" Ling Lan got curious.

"It can only create one innate talent but the innate talent can evolve and become stronger… no wait, this isn't an innate talent creation device!" Little Four exclaimed loudly, "It's the forbidden innate talent replicating device!"

Little Four started trembling. The innate talent replicating device had caused many deaths in Mandora. In the end, it was destroyed by the previous Intellect King. He thought that all the devices had been destroyed but it appeared again in another galaxy.

"What's the matter?" Ling Lan felt that the situation might be worse than she had thought when she saw Little Four's pale face.

"When the innate talent replicating device was created, many powerful people died that year. This was because there was one criterion in order to replicate someone's innate talent. The targeted person must be on the brink of death. In the instant before the spirit disappears, the innate talent can be replicated." Little Four didn't know why he had such scary memories.

He controlled his fear as he continued, "Not only that, it would take away a portion of the person's memory when it replicates the innate talent. The way when you use the replicated innate talent, you will be no different than its original owner. The person who invented this just wanted to prevent some powerful innate talents from disappearing but the implications it brought were too great. Many deaths occurred in that dark period. Even the Intellect King had no choice but to destroy all the innate talent replicating devices. I didn't expect it to appear here. Boss, you must not let it be known here. Once humans know its uses, countless deaths will follow.."

Little Four finally told Ling Lan the danger of the innate talent replicating device. Once someone knew its uses, they would definitely take advantage of it.

Ling Lan's facial expression turned grave. She didn't expect this device to be so frightening. If someone wanted her innate talent and used this device to replicate it from her, she might not be able to resist.

"Do you mean that the real Shadow King is dead?" Ling Lan finally understood what happened.

"Yes. This is just a low-quality replica. It's only able to replicate one innate talent," Little Four replied firmly.

"Can this device be made easily?" It was powerful even if it could only replicate one innate talent.

"No. I've researched the natural resources in your galaxy. The creation of this device requires cells of a particular being in Mandora which cannot be found in your galaxy. The scientists who made this replica must have found another living thing to replace it, and thus deteriorating the quality. Plus, the memory metal found in Mandora doesn't exist here too. I found something that can replace it but the quality just isn't up to par. There isn't a lot of this replacement too so they won't be able to make many replicas."

"That's good." The only other device she saw was on Gu Zhengrong.

"Can you take that device out of Tao Xiaotao's body?" Ling Lan asked. They might be able to easily examine it if they extract it from Tao Xiaotao's body.

Chapter 1190 Reward!

"It's inside his brain so we'll need suitable equipment to extract it." Little Four took a look around Li Shiyu's laboratory and shook his head. "There is no suitable equipment here. If we take it out forcefully, Tao Xiaotao might die."

"How troublesome!" Ling Lan lamented "Can we find the specific equipment?"

Little Four shook his head again. "We can but once we do, our opponents may be alerted."

"We can't let them know what we are doing. We'll only be safe if they think we are in the dark." Ling Lan was frustrated. She had too many outstanding subordinates around her, causing many people to pay attention to her. If she really alerted her opponents, they might be able to wipe her team out all at once. What a frightening thought.

'We can't do that!'

"Well, we actually can make the extracting device here. Chang Xinyuan is skilled with his hands so he might be able to create it if we give him the blueprints and the materials. Leave the materials to me. Once we make the extraction device, we should be able to take the replication device… more specifically, the replication chip out." Little Four was eager to start foiling the plans of his enemies.

Although Lingtian was portrayed with the image of being a clan without many logisticians, there were now many abled logisticians in the team contrary to the image they had shown to the public. They had people with special talents too. For instance, their head of the logistics department, Chang Xinyuan, was able to modify mechas. Their head of the medical department, Li Shiyu, could make powerful agents. There were many people who would want to snatch them.

It had to be said that when Ling Lan formed her Lingtian battle team in the past, she had considered all aspects thoroughly. She had high expectations of her team members so only geniuses were chosen. This was the reason why there were many capable people in her team. Everyone wanted to snatch her members so she had to put in much effort to maintain her team.

Of course, most of the time, her father was the one settling everything. He almost ruined his gentle and kind image because of Lingtian.

"Let's do it." Ling Lan was decisive.

She didn't like anything that could threaten her friends. Since she already knew that her opponent had this frightening device, she must find a way to counter it.

After Ling Lan retracted her gaze, Li Lanfeng asked, "Have you found the answer?"

Li Shiyu looked up too. He wanted to know what Ling Lan had discovered.

"There is a chip in his brain. It's giving off a faint fluctuation." Ling Lan couldn't directly tell them the truth.

"In the brain?" Li Shiyu's expression changed. He had already used his apparatuses to scan Tao Xiaotao's brain but nothing could be found.

"I used my hacking ability to find the faint fluctuation. I'm afraid that with our current equipment, we might not be able to detect it." Ling Lan sighed.

Li Shiyu frowned. There was clearly a problem but he couldn't find it. I made him feel irritated.

"On the bright side, when I infiltrated the base on Planet Azure, I found the blueprint and information of a new tracking device. We can try to ask Chang Xinyuan to make it. If he can make it, we might be able to locate the fluctuation." Li Shiyu's eyes lit up over Ling Lan's words. As a military doctor, he loved to have as many tracking devices as he could so that he could find what he needed. That way, he would be able to unleash his full surgery potential and complete all the surgeries that were deemed impossible by the Federation. It gave him great satisfaction when he saw those shocked faces of renowned military doctors.

"What are we waiting for? Hurry up and look for Chang Xinyuan," Li Shiyu was excited.

Ling Lan and Li Lanfeng smiled when they saw Li Shiyu's eager expression. Before the device could be made, Tao Xiaotao had to suffer and be locked up in the recovery pod.

The safest way to lock up a hacker was to make him unconscious so that he couldn't use his mind.

After ten days had passed, the military sent many representatives to visit Ling Lan but the team leaders would chase them away from their doorstep, saying that Ling Lan was undergoing treatment and was unconscious.

Some representatives suggested sending military doctors from the headquarters over but Li Shiyu retorted, "Is there anyone better than me?" No one could answer him.

Li Shiyu wasn't an arrogant person so he said humbly, "I sure hope some god-class military doctors will come. They can be my helpers."

The representatives from the military pretended they didn't hear the suggestion. God-class military doctors were the treasures of the military. To ensure their safety, most of them stayed within the military headquarters. No one would be willing to send them to the frontline.

They also wanted to look for the new commanding officer of the base as well as the regiment commanders of the three first-rank five-star mecha clans but all of them said that they were busy.

Some representatives suspected that they were controlled by the people from Lingtian, but they were all contactable. They were even able to have a video call with them. Based on their facial expressions and voices of the people who chatted with them, they were not forced or coerced into doing anything. The background of the video call was their office too (Little Four laughed arrogantly. Hackers might not be able to do this but he just needed a thought to do it).

Hence, the representative from the military couldn't find any loopholes to tackle Lingtian. Finally, the rewards came.

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"The rewards for the Lingtian Mecha Clan is as follows: Firstly, Major General Ling Lan is promoted to a lieutenant general."

Although Ling Lan was very young, her mecha clan destroyed three other mecha clans of their enemies, and one of them was even a top-ranked mecha clan.

Everyone agreed with this reward. Even if they felt any negative feelings, it was probably because Ling Lan was too young to obtain such rank. When they were 24 years old, they were still young recruits who were clueless about the world. Yet, Ling Lan was already a lieutenant general with many merits. The comparison was stark. It was unacceptable for some people.

However, they put aside their jealousy and continued reading the message.

"Secondly, Major General Yang Mingzhi and Major General Liu Furong will be awarded the Golden Eagle Warrior Medal. They will also be appointed as the vice regiment commander of the Lingtian Mecha Clan."

Wow! The Golden Eagle Warrior Medal! They weren't promoted in rank but the medal had a similar buff too as all major generals had to salute to the major generals who had the Golden Eagle Warrior medal. This meant that Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong were the highest-ranked major generals.

The second part of the order was interesting. Was this decentralization of authority?

Lingtian used to have only one regiment commander. The rest were all team leaders. Now, there were two vice regiment commanders and by right, all the decisions would also have to go through the vice regiment commanders.

Chapter 1191 Lingtian, an Independent Army!

While everyone was trying to figure out the real meaning behind the second part of the order they were given, the third part of the order came.

"Thirdly: Gu Dongyang, Sun Yaofei, Qi Long, Li Lanfeng… Those mentioned above will be promoted to major generals!"

A long list of 40 to 50 names all advancing to major general shocked everyone to their core. Was Lingtian going against God? Even legendary mecha clans might not have that many major generals.

Compared to the major generals who were older and had achieved greatness in their past, the two younger major generals on the list seemed to garner more attention.

Li Lanfeng and Qi Long's name quickly became well-known among the soldiers on Base Nebula.

Qi Long was Team 03's team leader and the person just behind Yang Mingzhi and Liu Furong. In this battle, his performance was spectacular. Just his own personal achievements of killing three of Knight Mecha Clan's team leaders was enough for his name to be imprinted in everyone's mind.

However, ranking up by two ranks, from colonel straight to major general… his achievements seemed to not match with the amount of merits he was given.

Everyone suddenly remembered the rumour that spreaded across the base. Qi Long was the son of the Invincible God of War, the 13th Division's general, Sky God, Qi Yaoyang. Everyone seemed to have realized the truth behind the suspicious promotion and quickly silenced themselves in case they incurred the wrath of Sky God.

Li Lanfeng, Team 06's team leader, was originally the same rank as Qi Long, a colonel. Although he didn't come from an impressive background, his growth was still a living example of a commoner raising up to the heavens. The contribution he had made during the battle was enough to put him as one of the three top performers. That was because these top three performers were the ones who combined their strength and killed the regiment commander of Knight Ace Mecha Clan.

Executing a standard mecha clan's regiment commander as a team leader was already shocking enough, not to mention executing the regiment commander of Knight Mecha Clan. Just this achievement alone was enough for him to rise up the ranks.

He was too damn lucky! Everyone looked at Li Lanfeng's name and were all green with envy. Was Li Lanfeng loved by the Goddess of Luck? How could good things always happen to him? (Well, it is because he has such a caring regiment commander.)

Everyone who was still burning from all the different emotions they had from reading the third part of the order, continued to read the next list of names. This was the list of those who advanced to the rank of senior colonel.

Holy, there were so many people who ranked up! Everyone was shocked by the large number of names.

Some carefully counted and realized that there were actually 271 individuals on the list.

Few of the regiment commanders from regular mecha clans looked at the pitiful lieutenant colonel and colonel insignias on their shoulders and felt a bitter taste in their mouths. Had they wasted their lives doing nothing?

Right afterwards, the part of the order where it listed soldiers who were advancing to lieutenant colonel and majors were shown. This time, there wasn't a list. Instead, there was a document, and it was only shown to those who cared enough to log in and look at the names.

However, some officers just had too much time on their hands as they tried to scratch their itch of curiosity. They logged in and looked through the document. They were instantly dumbfounded. The list was so long that even after scrolling a few times, they couldn't reach the bottom of the document. After scrolling for a while, they just assumed all of the official members of Lingtian Mecha Clan must have been promoted to at least major-rank. There were even some captain-rank officers from the logistics department, who had an outstanding performance, successfully promoted to the rank of major. Those who were originally majors, would probably at least be promoted by one rank, not mention the captains and sergeants who had outstanding performances…

After reading through the document, every soldier in Base Nebula believed that Lingtian Mecha Clan probably didn't have any members at the rank of private. The lowest ranked soldier was probably at sergeant-rank.

Of course, the list of soldiers advancing to major or above wasn't as shocking as the orders given beforehand. As everyone was sure that there was nothing that could surprise them even further, the last part of the order made the entire base erupt in shock.

"Lastly, Lingtian Independent Mecha Clan has reached all requirements of advancing. From today onwards, Lingtian Independent Mecha Clan will become Lingtian Independent Army. Additional army personnel additions will be notified later."

"Independent army. Lingtian advanced into an independent army…" someone shouted out.

"That's unbelievable. The 27th Independent Army in history is us, Lingtian!" one soldier from Lingtian Mecha Clan cheered excitedly while pumping his fists into the air.

"Lingtian became an independent army!" Even those proud and stubborn ace mecha clans couldn't hold back the admiration and envy in their looks as they looked towards the excited members from Lingtian.

Were they jealous? No as this was glory admired by all. They couldn't be jealous of them even if they wanted to. That was because that becoming an independent army was not achieved based on manpower. It required the clan to be at the right place and at the right time, and even required amazing luck to achieve such a feat.

In other words, Lingtian was an existence that was being taken care of by God itself. In the past, these other ace mecha clans perhaps could still compare to Lingtian, but now they no longer even dare to have the thought.

Who was willing to compare with a monstrous mecha clan that had already advanced to an independent army after only establishing itself for more than a year? When the difference was infinitely vast, these other clans no longer had the thought of comparing themselves with Lingtian.

"I was thinking why they had let us free today. It seems that's why." The three major generals who walked passed the plaza heard the shouts and screams of everyone. They showed disdain on their faces.

"Now that everything is set in stone, no one can stop Lingtian from flying freely in the sky." Wang Shao sighed. Thus, after just regaining their freedom, they could no longer stop Lingtian no matter what they do.

"I didn't expect Lingtian Mecha Clan to acquire such great merits from the Nebula Boundary Battle…" Qin Youqi had a jealous and angry but yet complicated look on his face.

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"An independent army is enough to hold down first-rank five-star clans like ours. Even if legendary mecha clans were to come, they still would have a hard time suppressing Lingtian," Zhang Haoxun said coldly. "Lingtian have become too powerful. They cannot be stopped anymore."

"Just one mistake caused us to lose so much. We wasted our time coming here." Wang Shao shook his head regrettably. They might be in for some reprimand from their chief. He just hoped that the chief wouldn't lose trust in him because of this matter.

Ye Kui also read through the final part of the order in his room, "As expected, just what I thought. The Federation is changing."

Ye Kui's mood wasn't in the best of sorts. He stood up and paced around anxiously. After thinking about how he was heartlessly rejected by Ling Lan, that feeling of failure made him feel frustrated.

"That order back then was god damn stupid!" Ye Kui thought of Ye Xu and instantly cussed out.

If the family didn't force Ye Xu out of Lingtian, perhaps he would still be able to use the friendship between Ye Xu and Ling Lan to improve his family's situation. He could have even made Ye Xu be like the two from the Li family to work under Ling Lan. That way, the Ye family wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore.

The Ye family clearly had the chance to change their destiny, but they didn't hold it in his hands tight enough. This feeling of powerlessness made Ye Kui, who poured everything he had into the Ye family, feel so frustrated that it could almost kill him.

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough say in the Ye family. He could only be considered to be an enforcer and not a decision maker. Even if Ye Kui knew the order given to him by the elders of the family was dumb, he could still only just watch as the Ye family's stubborn elderly pushed the family into the brink of destruction.

Chapter 1192 Base And Manpower!

All the mecha clans in Base Nebula had their own thoughts about Lingtian becoming an independent army.

As for Ling Lan, she only came out of her closed-door meditation three days after the reward was sent out.

She couldn't appear on the day the reward was given out since that would seem too fake. She needed to give the military an out so that they could console themselves.

However, she wasn't doing nothing while doing closed-door meditation. She made many calls with her father discussing the new location of their new base camp. After some back and forth, she and her father finally decided on Base Nebula to be Lingtian Independent Army's new base camp.

Ling Lan had set her eyes on this movable base that was well-equipped with weapons and had all the high-tech facilities from the Federation. She couldn't imagine being in those stationed bases as just imagining her being there gave her the chills. The battle at Base 013 on Planet Haijiao had traumatized her.

Ling Lan liked the flexibility of a movable base. In the past, she wasn't aware of the existence of a moveable base such as Base Nebula, so she never thought about wanting a movable base. However, now that she knew of its existence and she was already in the base, it was hard for her to not want it.

Moreover, she wasn't planning on chasing away the three first-rank five-star mecha clans the three great marshals sent over. They were extra manpower for her to increase the fighting strength of the base. She would be stupid to give them back.

Ling Xiao was astounded by Ling Lan's plan. He was shocked at her greediness but when he thought about it carefully, it was workable.

Of course, Ling Xiao never planned to reject her request anyway. She was his daughter. He would fulfill all the requests she had. Moreover, this request wasn't too hard for him to fulfill.

"I still need to remind you that these three mecha clans don't belong to you. Even if they are stationed at Base Nebula, they might not submit to you." Ling Xiao reminded Ling Lan that the three mecha clans were not easy to subdue.

"They just need to be loyal to their country." Ling Lan didn't care about their allegiance. She wasn't planning to make Lingtian her personal army anyway. The Lingtian Independent Army would be going to the battlefield one day, and there were no factions on the battlefield. On the battlefield, everyone only had one identity, a soldier of the Federation.

Ling Xiao gave her a look of approval. This was how a regiment commander should think.

We would not talk about how Ling Xiao helped Ling Lan to gain more benefits from the military headquarters. All in all, many meetings were held and many factions participated in the discussion. Some wanted to suppress Lingtian while others wanted to help it. Some wanted to send spies in while others wanted to split Lingtian's power. It was an intense struggle. A conclusion was formed only half a month later.

That day, the military headquarters sent a new order to Base Nebula.

The Lingtian Independent Army would temporarily be stationed at Base Nebula. The commanding officer of Base Nebula should cooperate with Lingtian Independent Army to increase its manpower. The Lingtian Independent Army could replenish its manpower from Base Nebula. Jade Cloud Ace Mecha Clan, Fantasy City Ace Mecha Clan, and Nine Alliance Ace Mecha Clan would merge into the Lingtian Independent Army.

The entire base was in an uproar.

"Does that mean that we are going to be part of the Lingtian Independent Army?" Many regiment commanders who had their clans stationed in Base Nebula were excited when they saw this order.

"Also, Jade Cloud Ace Mecha Clan, Fantasy City Ace Mecha Clan, and Nine Alliance Ace Mecha Clan are going to merge into the Lingtian Independent Army. Are they trying to create a legendary independent army?"

When would a new independent army be able to get manpower from powerful ace mecha clans? Moreover, competent soldiers were usually from first-rank five-star mecha clans. These mecha clans could become legendary mecha clans if they worked a little harder, entering the Hall of Honour. No clan in their right mind would agree to give their soldiers away without a sky-high price.

Normally, if a new independent army was able to get manpower from one or two normal mecha clans, it was already considered very lucky.

After soldiers of the base heard the order, they cemented the idea that the Lingtian Independent Army was doted on by the heavens.

At that moment, the regiment commanders of the three said ace mecha clans had received this piece of news too. They quickly gathered together to discuss this issue.

"What do you think?" Wang Shao frowned. A few days ago, his chief told him that their mecha clans might need to remain in Base Nebula for some time. He thought that they would just stay here and guard the base but instead, they were merging with the Lingtian Independent Army.

What were their superiors thinking? Did they send them in so that the Lingtian Independent Army wouldn't become Ling Xiao's ultimate weapon?

"What can we think? It's clearly stated that we're supposed to merge with Lingtian." Qin Youqi was frustrated. He felt irritated when he imagined that he had to listen to a 24-year-old young brat.

"We can only wait and see. Ultimately, we're still in the Federation. It doesn't matter where we go." Zhang Haoxun was extremely calm.

"But it's a newly formed independent army. I'll be embarrassed if I see my old colleagues." Qin Youqi was furious. An independent army was considered as a quasi-division. However, its status and benefits couldn't be compared to an official division.

They used to belong to the 1st division, 2nd division, and 3rd division and they were the highest-rank mecha clan in their division. The difference in treatment was just too stark. This was why Qin Youqi couldn't accept the order.

"I don't think so." Zhang Haoxun had a different perspective. "We might be embarrassed if we merge with any other independent army but the Lingtian Independent Army… don't you think that it is a legend?"

Qin Youqi and Wang Shao went into deep thought. They had been in such high-caliber position for a long time so they weren't stupid enough to be reckless in their decisions.

"Indeed. They're a legend." Wang Shao agreed with Zhang Haoxun after looking back at Lingtian's history. Qin Youqi just scoffed in response, but he agreed in his mind.

"If Lingtian didn't exist and someone tells me that an independent mecha clan can become an independent army in one year. I will just think he is crazy." Zhang Haoxun had a sharp tongue.

"Indeed. I'll be unconvinced too," Wang Shao replied.

"But the truth is laid out right before us." Zhang Haoxun sighed. "Lingtian managed to do it. They even did it solely based on their merits. No one could say anything to bring them down."

Chapter 1193 Script!

"Lingtian is powerful. Ling Lan is powerful too." Zhang Haoxun suddenly lowered his voice. He seemed to be muttering to himself but Qin Youqi and Wang Shao both heard him.

"This merge might be an opportunity for us." Zhang Haoxun's gaze was slowly filled with ambition. "Becoming a legendary mecha clan might not be such a far goal anymore."

Wang Shao and Qin Youqi were stunned by his words. They were both regiment commanders of a first-rank five-star mecha clan so it was unsurprisingly that they had the same ambition as Zhang Haoxun, but no one dared to speak up about it. This was because becoming a legendary mecha clan was very difficult, too difficult perhaps. It was not as tough as becoming an independent army but the difference between the two feats wasn't great.

Basically, those were the two most difficult statuses to achieve for a mecha clan.

"Maybe you���re right." Wang Shao's heart started pounding at an increasingly deep rhythm.

Qin Youqi's frustration slowly melted away. His gaze seemed uncertain. He seemed to be in a dilemma.

The Lingtian Mecha Clan, no, it was the Lingtian Independent Army now.

The people from the Lingtian Independent Army received their promotion too.

The administrators of Lingtian sat in the meeting room.

Ling Lan pointed to the notification on the big virtual screen and said, "Congratulations on all your promotions."

Everyone smiled and laughed.

"First, let's welcome Leader Yang and Leader Liu who will become the new vice regiment commanders of Lingtian." Ling Lan clapped her hands slowly.

Everyone followed her and clapped too.

Yang Mingzhi smiled. "The promotion is just for show. My real job is still being a team leader. Please don't get confused."

Everyone laughed at his words.

Liu Furong continued, "Leader Yang has said what I have in mind. I'm still the team leader of Team 02. Please don't be mistaken."

Laughter erupted again. The awkward atmosphere of the meeting disappeared.

"You can't push away your responsibility. You must do what you're supposed to do." Ling Lan didn't mind her grasp over Lingtian was slowly loosening. She had already let go of a portion of her powers when Lingtian was still a mecha clan.

Ling Lan knew she wasn't a robot. She wasn't perfect. She knew what was the strength of her team leaders so she made use of them. The miracles Lingtian created weren't accomplished by herself. It required the effort of everyone in Lingtian.

"We will follow your orders." Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi smiled before nodding.

They only dared to accept their position after the official announcement by their regiment commander.

They knew that Lingtian solely belonged to Ling Lan. There would only be one true commander in Lingtian .

The veteran soldiers were saved from the brink of despair by Ling Lan while the younger soldiers achieved greatness under Ling Lan. The relationships of the team leaders, the heads of the various departments and Ling Lan were even deeper.

The results Lingtian achieved were all linked to Ling Lan. She was also the person who saved all of them during the battle on Planet Haijiao.

Everyone felt that in Lingtian, Ling Lan had the ultimate say. They would only recognise Ling Lan as their true leader. They were willing to follow this powerful leader and risked their lives for her.

If someone was under the impression that he could topple Ling Lan's position in Lingtian, he must not be from Lingtian. Liu Furong and Yang Mingzhi both felt that no matter who the military sent to Lingtian, even if it was a war hero, he wouldn't be able to take Ling Lan's straggle-hold of power in Lingtian away.

What about Ling Xiao? Well, since he was Ling Lan's father, the members of Lingtian might give him some face. If not, Ling Lan might be unhappy.

"The logistics departments finally got recognised by the military. Congratulations on entering the military system. You're not just an empty shell anymore." Ling Lan looked at Li Shiyu and Lin Zhong-qing. Their promotions gratified her the most.

Lingtian managed to become an independent army and the logistics departments were all officially set up. Moreover, the heads of the departments were still the same. Her father must have put in a lot of effort to get this reward for her.

Ling Lan believed that various factions in the military must have wanted to send someone to take over these positions but the logistics section was just too important to her. In her mind, only capable people should lead the logistics teams. Thus, when she was discussing with her father, she told him that the heads of the logistics departments must remain the same.

Ling Xiao felt the same way too. Thus, he allowed the positions of vice regiment commanders to be created in exchange for keeping the heads of the logistics department the same.

The heads of the logistics departments were elated. After the battle, Lin Zhong-qing and Li Shiyu became senior colonels. They were the highest-ranked soldiers among all the logisticians while the rest were still colonels or lieutenant colonels.

The team leaders of the mecha teams were mostly senior colonels too. Only team leaders like Qi Long and Li Lanfeng were promoted to major generals.

"One more thing. The mecha teams will be officially promoted to mecha brigade." Ling Lan announced with a serious face.

"Yes!" All the team leaders were surprised.

Currently, the maximum limit of soldiers in an independent army is 50,000. And to work her way around that, Ling Lan decided she would turn all her mecha teams into mecha brigades. By turning all her mecha teams into mecha brigades, she was essentially 'forced' to fill them up with soldiers.

A mecha brigade's maximum limit was a few hundred soldiers to a few thousand soldiers while a mecha team could only have less than a hundred soldiers. Ling Lan didn't want to keep to the standard of having 50,000 people for an independent army.

Thus, we could predict that the number of people in the Lingtian Independent Army would definitely exceed this number.

Ling Lan had already prepared her script in mind to report to the higher authorities.

'You exceeded the limit? How can it be?'

'You are forced to fill the mecha brigades? They should only have a few hundred people? What? Misunderstanding? There are 2000 soldiers in each mecha brigade?'

'What's the maximum limit of soldiers for a mecha brigade? 2000? Well, they didn't exceed their limit…'

'Your independent army has too many people.'

'Really now? Let us pick who to let go. The process might take a while. We've already taken them in so we need to go through the standard procedure to return them.'

'But, no one wants to go back. What should I do? I took them in so I'm willing to be responsible for them.'

'How to be responsible? Well, I'll let them remain here and groom them. If you need them in the future, you can take them away.'

Ling Lan went through all the lines in her mind and nodded in satisfaction.