354 - 359
Chapter 354 - Enemy Invasion?
"Li Lanfeng will definitely go to the 23rd Division. I've already spoken with him," answered Ling Lan immediately. "As for Li Shiyu, as long as Qi Long's issue isn't resolved, he doesn't have a choice."
The others could not help but spare a handful of compassionate tears for Li Shiyu at Ling Lan's words. Thus, the poor Li Shiyu had sold off his entire life to the Lingtian Battle Clan ... he had no more so-called freedom to speak of.
Hiding at one side, Qi Long secretly swiped away the cold sweat on his forehead, self-hypnotising himself inside, 'It's none of my business. All of this is Boss's idea ..." He still remembered that back when he had suffered that 'relapse', Boss had secretly injected him with a shot before it happened. There was absolutely something fishy about that shot.
"As for Chang Xinyuan, we can just ask him the next time we meet. Even if he is unwilling, there's still a few years' time for us to trick him into following us." Ling Lan stroked her chin, thinking about that mecha modification prodigy. Yup, she absolutely could not allow him to just slip away like that.
Trick? The moment Ling Lan said this, all of the other people in the villa reacted similarly. They all lifted their heads to look up at the ceiling, pretending they had not heard anything. They were a proper battle clan, definitely not some human trafficking syndicate ... uh, although a few of the clan members had indeed been tricked into joining, overall, those were still the minority, right ...? Everyone was justifying things to themselves, cautioning themselves that they absolutely could not be led astray by their boss.
Near the evening, Ling Lan walked out from the villa on her own. Qi Long and the others were still in their classes and had yet to return. Ling Lan had decided to go to the port to send her dad off so that he would not misunderstand things and mope again.
Ling Lan knew very well that Ling Xiao had come all this way in disguise to the military academy primarily because he was worried about her and so wanted to come see for himself how she was doing. Although Ling Lan felt that Ling Xiao's actions were unnecessary, she could not deny that she was deeply moved by it. She had profoundly experienced the bottomless love and acceptance Ling Xiao had for his daughter. Even though they had missed spending the first sixteen years of her life here together, Ling Xiao was currently investing so much more than Ling Lan in their relationship. It should be said that Ling Xiao was scoring passing marks in taking on his role as a father.
Spending these last few days together in the military academy had let Ling Lan gradually integrate her image of the Ling Xiao in the legacy space with this Ling Xiao in the real world. If Ling Lan had not been so used to having her slackface on by now, and if Ling Xiao's face had not looked so ridiculously young, perhaps Ling Lan would have already fulfilled Ling Xiao's wish by calling him 'daddy'. As for right now ...
Ling Xiao's assessment team was almost the final team to leave the First Men's Military Academy. There was quite a crowd that had come to send them off. Some were the upper-year cadets who had been enlisted into the 23rd Division, such as Huo Zhenyu and company, while there were also quite a number of lower-year cadets who admired the 23rd Division. These younger students had come over in between classes in hopes of making a stronger impression on the assessors.
While they knew that the assessors would be different every year, what if these officers happened to be the assessors again several years later ...? They were unwilling to back down even just for this miniscule bit of hope.
This was still the first time that Huo Zhenyu had seen the leader of the 23rd Division's team. During the assessment period, this leader had not appeared at any of the assessment fields. Even the inspection tasks had only been handled by him at the end of the day after all the assessments had ended. Since Huo Zhenyu had decided to go to the 23rd Division, he naturally wanted to know more about it. He wanted to know what kind of leader this major general was — perhaps he would be able to see some shadow of General Ling Xiao from the other.
Huo Zhenyu believed that a leader under General Ling Xiao must have something special about him.
The major general looked very young — even the large face mask which almost covered his entire face was unable to conceal this fact. He led his team to the special military port for the 23rd Division, but unlike the other assessment teams, he did not walk straight into the military vessel. Instead, he stood to one side, as if waiting for someone.
The other assessment team officers did not seem surprised by this. The major general had barely halted when they all spread out to stand in groups of two or three around him, where they then began chatting with one another. The mood was extremely casual and light-hearted.
Huo Zhenyu did not think much of it at first, but he soon noticed the intricacy behind the men's positions. Those officers may seem as if they were standing around randomly to chat, but that was not true. They had imperceptibly surrounded the major general, and the direction and angle of each person's position were different. It could be said that everything in the surroundings would fall into the eyes of at least one of the officers — not a single blind spot existed.
Huo Zhenyu was rendered speechless with astonishment. Who would have expected the leader of the 23rd Division to have such strong leadership skills? This scene had not occurred with any of the other assessment teams — even the leader of the teams might not be able to inspire such obedience from the proud and stubborn officers under their lead.
It could not be denied that even as Huo Zhenyu was astounded, he was secretly pleased. It was always better being able to join a united division rather than a divided army division which was prone to in-fighting.
Right at this time, Huo Zhenyu saw a very familiar figure strolling over. It was Ling Lan who had defeated him on the arena stage. Ling Lan bypassed the fence to walk straight towards the men of the 23rd Division. It looked like his target was that major general.
Huo Zhenyu was startled by this and he began to feel nervous for Ling Lan's sake. These officers of the 23rd Division may seem nice and friendly, but they were actually really hard to get along with. He had once tried to build some rapport with them but had failed miserably. The mocking gazes of those men had stopped Huo Zhenyu from seeking them out to talk again.
Huo Zhenyu thought that Ling Lan would be stopped by the surrounding officers before he could even get close to the major general, but unexpectedly, Ling Lan had just approached when the officer closest to him had smiled and given way to him. This scene made Huo Zhenyu's pupils contract. It went without saying that Ling Lan must know that major general.
As Huo Zhenyu had put his full focus on the assessment, he had not paid attention to the other things that had happened within the school. Thus, he was unaware that Ling Lan had led the New Cadet Regiment to form a welcoming committee for the assessment teams, or that Ling Lan had been singled out for admiration by the head of the 23rd Division during the welcoming ceremony ...
Huo Zhenyu's gaze dimmed slightly. Would the fact that Ling Lan knew the major general affect his future retaliation plan? However, Huo Zhenyu soon smiled, fighting spirit ablaze in his eyes. This was even better. If Ling Lan truly enlisted with the 23rd Division because of this, perhaps their revenge plot could be executed several years ahead of schedule.
"You've finally come! I thought you wouldn't even be willing to come see me off." Even though Ling Xiao's face was completely obscured by the large face mask, the humour in his eyes could not be concealed. It was clear to see that Ling Lan's arrival had pleased Ling Xiao's dragon heart greatly.
"Well, I forgot to ask you, Father, to pass on a message. Tell Mummy to not worry, I'm doing well here." Ling Lan reflexively scratched her nose, ignoring the hope in Ling Xiao's eyes, once again pretending not to see anything like an ostrich. Alright, just let her continue working at it!
Ling Xiao seemed to pick up on Ling Lan's embarrassment. He reached out a hand to tap Ling Lan lovingly on the forehead and said with a smile, "Got it. I'll pass on your message, my 'son'!" That said, Ling Xiao turned to leave and board his ship. Frankly, Ling Lan coming to send him off personally was already enough to satisfy him. As for calling him 'daddy', he was not impatient; there was still time. One day, he would let his daughter call him 'daddy' from the heart.
Ling Lan looked at Ling Xiao's stalwart back and then decisively fell into a cadet's salute, mouthing silently, "Daddy, bon voyage!" Although that cry of 'daddy' was not voiced, the love and respect she held in her heart for Ling Xiao could not be denied.
The assessment team of the 23rd Division very quickly followed their leader onto their ship, and the ship soon took off. Just like that, other than Qi Long and the other few knowing that Ling Xiao had visited the military academy, no one else had a clue that the national idol and god-class operator General Ling Xiao had even graced the First Men's Military Academy with his presence.
Only after Ling Lan saw the warship fly away from the port did she put down her hand and turn away from the port. On her way back, she saw Huo Zhenyu standing right across from her, staring at her with a serious expression.
"Senior Huo, what's up?" asked Ling Lan lightly.
"Are you going to the 23rd Division in future?" asked Huo Zhenyu.
"Yes!" answered Ling Lan resolutely.
"Good. Four years later, I will wait for you at the 23rd Division. At that time, we shall fight to clear the grudge between us." Huo Zhenyu's eyes were filled with fighting spirit as he issued his challenge.
"Sounds good to me!" Ling Lan decisively clapped her hand against the other's outstretched palm, indicating that she had accepted Huo Zhenyu's challenge.
After striking palms, the two brushed by each other, leaving for their respective destinations without a backward glance. However, they both knew that they needed to begin preparing now for the battle four years from now.
Very soon, night descended. Ling Lan and the others finished dinner and then after another round of training, they each went off to rest.
At this time, the fleet of an unidentified faction had snuck into the skies of the planet they were on and were slowly making their silent way towards the planet ... even more frighteningly, heaven knows what method they used to interrupt the satellite surveillance of this plot of sky. Not a single person nor piece of equipment discovered their presence.
A patrol ship was conducting its routine patrol and inspection around this area and found nothing unusual. It was just about to send this news down to the mainframe below when it found that it could not send out any messages.
"That's strange, why wasn't there any signal five times in a row?" The operator in charge of message transmission had tried sending a message 5 times consecutively, but the optical supercomputer always ended each attempt with a notification of failure. This surprised the operator, causing him to shout out involuntarily. Although there had been times before when the message transmission would fail due to an unstable signal, it would typically only happen just once or twice and never more than three times. For this transmission to fail 5 times in a row was absolutely an abnormal occurrence.
The comms leader in charge of this area immediately came over to investigate. Sure enough, as the operator had said, there was no indicator of any signal at all being picked up by the device. He quickly said, "Which satellite are you connected to?"
"JX-12," responded the operator instantly.
"Change to JX-07 for me," ordered the team leader.
"Yes! Sir!" The operator immediately switched to contacting the satellite JX-07 but soon found that JX-07 was equally out of contact. "Sir, we can't connect to JX-07."
"Try the other satellites!" Cold sweat began to bead up on the team leader's forehead; he had sensed that something was up.
The operator tried again and again to connect to the other major satellites in this section of space but found all his efforts futile. "Sir, it's still not working."
"Could it be that the ship's communicator is broken?" asked the team leader.
"No, the results of the device's self-check is normal 1 !" responded the operator immediately.
At these words, the team leader suddenly recalled a war of information that had taken place in the Federation 20 years ago. This kind of scenario had occurred then as well. His face changed drastically and he said, "Could this be an enemy invasion?"
1. T/C: Hmmm ... if the device is already broken, would its self-check be reliable?
Chapter 355 - Ambush?
Just then, the surveillance radar operator announced with a shout, "Unidentified flying objects detected, number, preliminary estimation nineteen."
This announcement caught the captain's attention and he promptly ordered, "Get me visual, maximum magnification."
The person manning the scanner screens, upon receiving the coordinates provided by the radar operator, began searching and quickly located the targets, and then began zooming in. Soon, an image appeared on the main screen in the control room. What first appeared as nineteen black dots expanded gradually until rough silhouettes could be discerned. Despite the low resolution, everyone could see that the outlines of these unknown flying objects belonged to warship-class vessels.
Civilian and military ships were vastly different and could be easily distinguished based on their outlines. At the sight that greeted them, everyone felt alarmed. These mysterious warships, where had they come from and why had they never received any warning of any warships approaching their sector?
"Send the signal, request ID," the captain commanded through gritted teeth. He had a bad feeling about this, but hoped against hope that this fleet would turn out to be friendly.
"Alert ground control, report status," the captain prepared for the worst, directing communications personnel to brief the ground-level defensive troops on the situation.
"Sir, we've lost contact with ground control, the satellites are all dead," the communications team leader paled visibly as he informed his captain of the harsh reality of their situation.
Hearing this, the captain stood up fiercely and bellowed, "We must re-establish contact. This is definitely an enemy attack!" It was clear as day to the captain that this was undoubtedly an enemy offensive. Their only hope was to report this situation to the ground troops, otherwise ... the thought gave the captain chills, and he broke out in cold sweat.
If the enemy ambush succeeded, the First Men's Military Academy, situated on planet Newline directly below, would be done for!
The signalman, having tried repeatedly to contact the other fleet to no avail, anxiously asked the captain, "Sir, the other side is not responding. Your orders?"
Acting on a flash of insight, the captain clenched his jaw and commanded, "Alter course immediately, turn ninety degrees, full speed ahead!"
On receiving the order, every last technical operator in the main control room leapt to action. The patrol ship executed a flawless 90-degree turn, tracing a beautiful path against the sea of stars, then sped away towards the west. The vice-captain, standing beside the captain, could not help but ask softly, "Captain, is this really for the best?" The crime punished most severely by the Federation military was that of fleeing without even putting up a fight. If the military found out, the captain would surely be court-martialled.
"There are 19 military vessels in the enemy fleet, engaging them head-on is suicidal. I cannot allow my subordinate brothers to die in vain. Besides, we have a more important mission, which is to make contact with the ground troops and warn them of the impending danger. To do all this, we must survive! Even if it means getting court-martialled, I will have no regrets." With determination in his eyes, the captain went on, "Vice-captain, if planet Newline is ambushed, all the instructors and students at the First Men's Military Academy will be doomed ..."
"No matter which faction the enemy is from, I fear their goal is to sever the Federation's production line of future soldiers. The faculty at the First Men's Military Academy is the cream of the Federation's crop, we absolutely cannot allow the enemy to succeed," said the captain in steely tones.
By now, the fleet of 19 warships had discovered the fleeing Federation patrol ship. The supercomputer of the leading warship outputted a warning message: "ONE PATROL SHIP IDENTIFIED AHEAD, TARGET LOCKED FOR PURSUIT. PLEASE ISSUE NEW ORDER - PURSUE/IGNORE?"
In response to this news, the fleet commander decisively ordered, "Ignore it, proceed according to plan." Did that patrol ship think running westward would ensure their safety? The fleet commander flashed an icy smirk, clearly contemptuous.
As if on cue, two more fleets of warships suddenly appeared from either side, one with nine ships and the other, thirteen. Despite the emergency change of course, the Federation patrol ship was headed straight for the 13-ship fleet.
"Curses! Fire the cannons!" Realizing they had already fallen into the enemy's trap, the captain knew they had no chance, but a savage fire burned in his eyes. "Even if we die, we're taking some of the bastards with us!" screamed the captain.
The patrol vessel finally fired its main cannon, the missile's brilliant, glimmering tail arcing across the starry skies in an instant, barrelling straight towards one of the warships. Faced with the patrol ship's surprise attack, the warship moved to avoid it. Wherever the missiles scratched the sides of the warship, the once-glowing beam shields suddenly darkened ...
With just one more shot, perhaps they really could have dealt the enemy a terrifying blow, but the patrol ship never got the opportunity to do so. The enemy fleet never gave them any chance; they were faced with the overwhelming cannon fire of the enemy salvo. With missiles blanketing the sky before them, even though the patrol ship tried desperately to dodge and weave with their beam shields turned up to maximum power, they could not hope to win. BOOM! The patrol ship was blasted by multiple missiles. The ship blew apart in an instant, the ship and its crew swallowed by a sky-piercing, fiery explosion, like a fireworks display. The next moment, all that was left were debris in the emptiness of space.
"Reporting! One patrol ship destroyed in the east!" the fleet entering from the east wasted no time in reporting to the main fleet. Following that, the western fleet also reported that the patrol ship that had tried to flee had been destroyed by them. All told, they had destroyed two patrol ships.
The fleet commander received the two fleets' reports and nodded in satisfaction. "The three patrol ships mentioned in our intelligence have all been destroyed, and the signals from the satellites in the area have also been silenced. It's time we made our next move. On my orders, let Operation Kill the Fledgling officially begin!"
Following the commander's order, the three fleets merged into one massive fleet. All the warships positioned themselves in the airspace above the First Men's Military Academy on planet Newline and began opening their launch ports. Soon, innumerable black metallic spheres dropped speedily down towards the planet ...
"This technology granted by the Twilight Empire ain't bad at all. We're undetectable by radar, and on top of that, it's the dead of night. I think by the time the anti-air ground troops realize it, our men will have landed. What happens next will be a test of the strength of our forces," said the commander-in-chief, unable to suppress a gloating smirk as he watched the metallic spheres populate the skies above the First Men's Military Academy like spring rain.
"Indeed, Commander, this time, we shall teach the Huaxians a bloody lesson!" haughtily replied the adjutant by the commander's side, his eyes glinting with vengeance and bloodlust. The blood of the Caesar Empire must never be spilled in vain!
********
"Boss, wake up! Boss, wake up!" Ling Lan woke with a start but kept her eyes closed, maintaining the pretence of being in deep sleep while activating her spiritual power. Quickly probing the state of the room and finding everything normal, no threats present, only then did she ask mentally, "Little Four, what is it?"
"I just lost contact with every satellite around the planet all of a sudden. This is highly unusual," Little Four hurriedly briefed Ling Lan of the situation.
"Can't you just re-connect?" Ling Lan was shocked to hear this.
"I can't reach them. I've already activated all the radars on the ground and all the monitoring equipment in the academy ... I haven't found anything unusual yet, but something just feels off, like something bad is about to happen," Little Four replied anxiously. "I learnt about a similar incident recorded in the academy mainframe's database, this could be an attack on our communications system by an enemy nation ..."
"Blindfolding us to keep us in the dark about the situation in the outside world ... Could they be planning an ambush?" Ling Lan furrowed her brow, her mind flashing back to the events at the Swift Dragon base. Could this have something to do with that? Could it be that she had made a mistake somewhere and the enemy had discovered them?
On hearing Ling Lan's words, Little Four's eyes lit up and, nodding away, he said, "Yup, yup, their objective is most likely to pull off an ambush!"
Ling Lan made a snap decision and instructed Little Four, "Little Four, immediately report any changes in the situation to me, especially anything transpiring in the skies. You haven't forgotten what happened six years ago, right?" Ling Lan couldn't help but recall the incident on planet Demonbeast, where the Twilight Empire had managed to pull off an airborne offensive.
Ling Lan thought so, because the First Men's Military Academy in its current location was closely monitored by the ground forces, which made it impossible for any enemy nation to successfully invade it with large armies. Instead, they had employed such extravagant tactics as to create a total transmission lockdown, showing that their ambush this time was no petty skirmish. Since a ground invasion was impossible, a direct approach from the air was very likely. This was precisely why Ling Lan had especially notified Little Four to observe the skies.
As soon as Ling Lan was done instructing Little Four, her eyes sprang open, and with a shove of her right hand, she leapt down from the bed. She rapidly put on the academy uniform, opened the door to her room, and in a few steps, she arrived at the room closest to hers.
Ling Lan did not choose to knock politely, instead kicking the door in with a ferocious stomp.
With a violent "BANG!" Ling Lan blew the doorway open, the door itself crashing into the room from the force of the kick.
A crack was heard as the door was smashed to smithereens by some force mid-flight, the aftershocks sending the splinters exploding outward.
The first thing Ling Lan saw was a fist, and then someone on the bed somersaulted to the floor. Qi Long, who was naked above the waist and wearing only a pair of boxers, had one hand against the ground, poised like a cheetah waiting for any opportunity to strike.
Ling Lan glanced coolly at the sculpted, powerful body of Qi Long and his rippling muscles, and suppressed her envy. She said emotionlessly, "Enemy invasion, prepare for combat!" Such a formidable physique would never be hers in this lifetime, thought Ling Lan regretfully.
The tension Qi Long felt upon his rude awakening had abated when he saw that his own boss was the one standing in the doorway, but at his boss's words, his heart started racing again. He stood up quickly and, retrieving the academy uniform hanging by the bed in one fluid motion, dressed rapidly before catching up to Ling Lan, asking anxiously, "Boss, what happened?"
Chapter 356 - Tampering?
"I don't know. I'm only guessing that the military academy is probably being targeted for a large-scale enemy attack right now," said Ling Lan as they walked. Very soon they had come to the door of Luo Lang's room, and without even thinking about it, Ling Lan once again whipped out a savage kick to send the door flying open. However, the door opened to an empty room.
Just then, a person suddenly leapt out from the side, striking out ferociously at Ling Lan's face. Ling Lan calmly raised her right hand and caught the attacker's powerful fist with a palm.
"Boss, it's you!" Luo Lang saw that Boss Ling Lan was the one who had seized his fist and instantly let out a sigh of relief, crying out in joy. Apparently, the ruckus from Qi Long's room had startled the sleeping Luo Lang awake. He had thought that something was wrong and so had swiftly put on his clothes and hid behind the wall right by the door. When his door had been kicked open, he had then charged out to punch the intruder.
Ling Lan let go of Luo Lang's fist, and casting down a cold glance, she said, "Luo Lang, keep up!"
Luo Lang retracted his hand. Seeing the grim look on Ling Lan's face, he knew something had happened. Silently, he followed his boss, though he surreptitiously poked Qi Long beside him. Qi Long turned his head and mouthed silently, "Enemy invasion!"
Luo Lang's gaze turned cold. For his boss to be so concerned, this enemy invasion must be noteworthy. His thoughts ran along the same line Ling Lan's had, thinking of the events that had transpired at the Swift Dragon base. Could it be that the events there had caused them to be discovered?
However, looking at his boss's frigid expression, Luo Lang did not dare to ask any questions. Coming to the second floor, Ling Lan gave a signal to Qi Long and Luo Lang, motioning for them to split up and wake up Han Jijyun, Lin Zhong-qing, and Xie Yi respectively.
Very soon, everyone was awake. Fully dressed in their uniforms, they gathered at the living room downstairs. Ling Lan was seated primly on the sofa, deep in contemplation. Xie Yi and Lin Zhong-qing reflexively glanced at one another and saw the confusion in each other's eyes. They had only been woken up by Luo Lang and Qi Long without being told what was going on.
Han Jijyun walked down the stairs with a thoughtful expression. Coming to stand before Ling Lan, he waited for his boss to give him a definite answer.
"At present, our ground control has lost all contact with all the satellites in the space above this planet. It has been as long as 5 minutes." Ling Lan swept her gaze over everyone present and told them about the present situation.
Ling Lan's words gave everyone a shock, particularly Han Jijyun and Luo Lang. Aware of the importance of intelligence, they knew very well what this represented.
"It's an enemy invasion!" concluded Han Jijyun with conviction. Luo Lang nodded in agreement; he had come to the same conclusion as Han Jijyun. In contrast to Ling Lan's uncertain speculation, Han Jijyun and Luo Lang were obviously much more certain.
"My guess is the same. And I think the invasion will be coming from outer space." Ling Lan reflexively looked out at the starry sky outside the window. Wasn't the pitch darkness of the night sky a perfect setting for an air invasion?
Ling Lan's words caused everyone's expression to change. If things were really as Boss had said, then their First Men's Military Academy was in danger. Boiling over with anxiety, Xie Yi blurted, "Boss, then what should we do?"
"I have already taken control of the ground radar as well as all of the aerial monitoring equipment of the military academy. The moment I notice anything, I will sound the alarm of the entire academy," Ling Lan told her companions of her plans.
"Why not just sound the alarm now? This will make it easier for the ground forces to have time to put up their guard," asked Han Jijyun, puzzled.
"Unfortunately, there is nothing strange in the radar or the surveillance equipment. Without proof, their first response would be to suspect that the academy mainframe has been hacked. Then, they might put in all their effort to investigate this matter. The potential loss outweighs the potential gains; I don't want to have this backfire on us to the enemy's gain," Ling Lan shared her concerns.
If the ground forces turned all their attention internally as a result, Ling Lan would surely regret it endlessly. Initially aiming to disrupt an enemy's invasion but ending up creating an even better opportunity for the invasion instead, Ling Lan would not do such a stupid thing ...
"But losing contact with the satellites is a fact. As long as they learn of this, they should become wary." Han Jijyun could not understand why his boss was worrying like this. From his perspective, the matter was simple. As long as the ground forces knew that they had lost contact with the satellites for several minutes, they would certainly think of the possibility of an air invasion.
After listening to Han Jijyun's words, a bitter smile appeared on Ling Lan's lips. "What if, the equipment displays of all the ground devices connected to the satellites still show that everything is normal?" Only a fearsome existence such as Little Four could experience first-hand the truth that they had lost contact with the satellites; meanwhile, all the equipment were showing that everything was fine, and even the top-class hackers could sense nothing wrong. This was also why Ling Lan was forced to wait for something concrete to happen.
These words of Ling Lan finally caused the complexion of the composed Han Jijyun to change. "Boss, are you saying that there is no indication on the ground equipment about the loss of connection? But the fact is that we've already lost contact with the satellites?"
Ling Lan nodded and said, "Yes. Only hackers who have reached a certain level would be able to notice the problem." If Little Four had not loved to roam and wander about so much, he might have overlooked the problem as well ...
Han Jijyun's entire face turned grim. "Who would have expected the enemy to go to such expense to accomplish such a thing? Rumour has it that only imperial level hackers and above can do something like this ... although our military academy has cultivated many hackers, it has never once produced an imperial level one. Even in the entire Federation, the number of imperial hackers can be counted on one hand. It is to be expected that the ground forces will never notice that the satellites have been tampered with."
Tampered with? Han Jijyun's words caused Ling Lan's mind to jolt, an idea appearing in her mind's eye which would resolve their current passive situation. Ling Lan excitedly called out to Little Four, "Little Four, can you fabricate an image of the satellites transmitting?"
Ling Lan's words made Little Four roll his eyes and he said with a pout, "Boss, you're underestimating me too much. This kind of thing, I can do it even with my eyes closed." Was it necessary to ask him about such a simple thing? When would his boss have a little more faith in him?
"That's good ..." Little Four's words sent a bolt of glee through Ling Lan's heart. She began instructing Little Four on what he had to do. As Ling Lan elaborated, Little Four's gaze became brighter and brighter — in the end, he patted his chest and told Ling Lan to leave it all to him.
After accepting Ling Lan's arrangements, Little Four vanished. As if letting down a great burden, Ling Lan's mood became instantly much more relaxed. She thought about it for a bit and then said to Lin Zhong-qing, "Contact Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu, and Chang Xinyuan immediately. Let the three of them gather here at our place right away."
After that, she told the others, "You all, immediately contact all the team leaders of the New Cadet Regiment. Tell them about this news!" At this point, Ling Lan suddenly got up from the sofa and walked over to the window to stare up at the endless night sky. After several seconds of silent contemplation, she said icily, "Tell them to gather all their team members, be on standby, and be prepared to fight!"
"Yes, Boss!" Everyone sprang into motion.
********
About five minutes later, the initially still and silent school suddenly rang with the ear-splitting screech of an enemy invasion alarm.
When Ling Lan heard the alarm rip through the night air, the corners of her lips tilted up despite herself. If the enemy truly thought they could easily consume this entire school, then just let them try ...
Qi Long and the others, who had been sitting to one side quietly, leapt up at the cacophony and asked, "Boss, has the enemy been sighted?"
Ling Lan composedly sat on the sofa, shook her head and said, "No!"
"Then this alarm ..." Qi Long was confused now. They had all heard the conversation between Boss and Han Jijyun — Boss had clearly said that he would only sound the alarm once the enemy had been sighted.
"I was indeed the one who sounded the alarm," replied Ling Lan calmly.
"Didn't you say that without any proof, the ground forces will not believe it?" asked Han Jijyun, bewildered, unsure why his boss had suddenly changed his mind.
"They can tamper with the displays, but we can also tamper with the displays." Ling Lan's lips pulled into a cold curve.
Ling Lan's reply made everyone's eyes light up; all of them knew what Ling Lan meant. Indeed, if the other side could make it so the satellite displays registered everything as normal, then they too could make it so that the satellite displays indicated some problem ... most people were just trapped by fixed ideas, believing that attack methods could only be used on an enemy. Sometimes, for the greater picture, these methods could also be applied to one's own side.
Han Jijyun cast a searching glance at the composed Boss Lan before him, his heart maxed out with admiration 1 . While they were still thinking within the box, Boss Lan had already thrown the box wide open — his every action was already beyond any fixed boundaries of thinking. Whether something was good or bad, he could take and use it, as long as the final outcome was advantageous to their side.
Other than that, there was one more thing. Han Jijyun had always thought Boss Lan was just a top-class hacker, but now it looked like he should already be at the level of imperial-class hacker ... as expected of their boss, still as unfathomable even when it came to other domains.
"Enemy invasion, enemy invasion, all ground troops are commanded to enter combat mode. All anti-air cannons on the ground to be aimed towards the sky. Prepare to fire ..." The commander of the ground forces had received the images sent by the satellites and had instantly broken out into cold sweat. He immediately ordered the ground forces to begin moving. The sudden appearance of countless starships in the images as well as those golden metallic eggs spewing from the ships proved that this was a fearsome aerial invasion. Thank god for the timely images sent by the satellites, otherwise they would have been finished over here.
"Reporting to the chief. There is no sign of any unidentified flying objects in the sky on the radars. Everything is normal." Very soon, all the radar surveillance centres sent over the latest updates; they had not discovered anything wrong in the skies above. This situation bewildered the commander — what in the world was going on? Why didn't the ground radars pick up anything as indicated by the images from the satellites? Where exactly was the problem?
"Chief, do you still remember the planet Demonbeast invasion incident in that top-secret military report 6 years ago?" The adjutant by the commander's side found the situation equally puzzling, but his gaze suddenly lit up at this recollection and he quickly alerted the commander.
The commander came to a realisation and hurriedly ordered the staff officer beside him, "Quickly. Get me the information on the invasion of planet Demonbeast six years ago."
1. 佩服的五体投地: Literal original here being 'admired the other so much that he wanted to prostrate himself before the other'.
Chapter 357 - Arrangements!
It took only a few seconds for the information on the planet Demonbeast invasion to be displayed on the large screen of the command centre. When the commander saw that familiar egg-shaped object, he was instantly enlightened. Rage burned brightly in his heart and he cursed out loud, "Godd*mmit, it's those f*cking Twilightians again."
"Chief, according to the data, the metal of the eggs can avoid radar detection ..." The adjutant managed to find the info he wanted with a quick skim of the data. It looked like he had remembered correctly — radars were useless against these egg-shaped metal objects.
"So that's how it is. Issue the order — do not trust the radars, use infrared telescopes to search the skies." The commander had also seen that piece of information. Slamming a palm down hard on the surface before him, he commanded angrily.
"Yes! Chief!" The officers below the commander acknowledged his order and passed on his instructions. While the anti-air ground cannoneer troops were watching the skies intently, the team leaders of the New Cadet Regiment were leading all their team members to gather before Ling Lan's villa.
Li Lanfeng, Li Shiyu, and Chang Xinyuan were the last to arrive as their accommodations were the furthest away from Ling Lan's villa. When they saw the crowd gathered in the little garden before the villa, even as they were astonished, they could feel the potential power behind Ling Lan.
As soon as they entered the living room, they saw twenty people either standing or sitting all around the room. When he saw these people, Li Lanfeng's gaze flickered subtly. He recognised all these people — the Wuji Mecha Clan had collected detailed information on the New Cadet Regiment previously. These people were all the team leaders in the New Cadet Regiment, and were likely to be the leaders of battle clans in the future. For now, they were all members of Ling Lan's New Cadet Regiment.
Ling Lan was currently seated on the sofa. Seeing Li Lanfeng and the other two arrive, she merely gave them a look signalling them to go find Qi Long. Li Lanfeng and the others knew that Ling Lan was in the middle of a discussion with these people, so they made no sound, silently moving to Qi Long's side.
Qi Long saw them coming and then told them about the situation. Li Lanfeng was shocked by the news — after receiving the text to come, he had been rushing over when he had suddenly heard the sound of sirens, so he knew something major must have happened, but he had never expected that things would be so serious.
However, Li Lanfeng quickly pushed the shock to the back of his mind. He focused his attention on Ling Lan, wanting to know what Ling Lan was discussing with the team leaders. After listening for a while, Li Lanfeng's expression became more and more grim. He did not expect the rabbit to be so daring, actually setting his sights on the mecha storehouse during such a dangerous moment.
"Clearly, the upcoming battle will be a mecha battlefield. We are personally too weak to stand against mecha. We have no way at all to resist, to protect ourselves. So, we need to obtain weapons equal to the enemy's," stated Ling Lan coldly.
"Boss Lan, it's not that we don't trust your judgment, but we have never used real mecha before, especially those members of the lower ranks. Some have only begun learning how to operate mecha in Mecha World. They will not be able to put up any fight at all." At this time, one team leader shared the real situation of the members below him. His words received the agreement of quite a number of the team leaders, because they too had a significant number of members like that under them.
"Is that so ...?" Ling Lan frowned at those words. Because all her team members could operate mecha, she had temporarily forgotten that not every team was as fearsome as her team 1 . After some thought, Ling Lan said, "It's my mistake ... then let's do this instead. We'll split into two groups. Those who have confidence in their skills can come with me, while those who cannot operate mecha yet will form another team ..."
Here, Ling Lan paused. Very soon, she handed out a document to all the team leaders and pointed out a spot marked with a red star. "The other team will go to this location. It is the most secure anti-air stronghold of the military academy. Once they are inside, they will not have to worry about their safety any longer."
It was naturally Little Four who had found this safe anti-air base as well. Right after they had arrived at the school, Little Four had already mapped out every single nook and cranny of the campus, whether it was open or hidden away. The school had around thirty anti-air facilities, but only three were the best in terms of sturdiness and safety. The one Ling Lan had marked out was the one closest to them out of the three.
Seeing this map, Wu Jiong was startled. He lifted his head to stare at Ling Lan, wondering — could it be that Boss Lan's hacker powers were already so strong that there was nowhere in this school which was barred to him? Coming from a military family, he knew very well that this map was definitely a confidential document. For Ling Lan to have gotten his hands on it within such a short time frame, he must have used some extraordinary means.
As if noticing the suspicion in Wu Jiong's eyes, Li Lanfeng, who had been closely observing the proceedings all this while, quickly spoke up, "This map was given to Boss Lan by me."
Li Lanfeng may have been too concerned about the rabbit and had not taken the time to reflect on the matter. Since these team leaders were all part of the New Cadet Regiment, they should already know a thing or two about the regiment commander Ling Lan's abilities. When he had spoken up, there had only been one thought in Li Lanfeng's mind, and that was that he must help the rabbit hide his secrets ...
Li Lanfeng's words made a trace of surprise flash across Ling Lan's eyes, but when she saw the worry contained in Li Lanfeng's eyes, she instantly understood why Li Lanfeng had said what he had said ...
The corners of Ling Lan's lips quirked up slightly, her heart suffused with pleasure. So it turned out that it felt pretty good to have someone worry for you. Basking in the enjoyment of this feeling, Ling Lan did not say anything to refute Li Lanfeng's statement. She leaned back on the sofa with a half-smile, waiting to see how Li Lanfeng would flesh out his lie.
Li Lanfeng's unexpected interjection made Wu Jiong turn his head to look at him in surprise. When he saw Li Lanfeng, his brow furrowed noticeably.
In contrast to Ling Lan and Qi Long who only focused on their own matters, Wu Jiong was clearly more like a true regiment commander. Over this period of time, he had completely grasped the information of the high-level people associated with the various major factions, and Li Lanfeng was one of them. Wu Jiong remembered very clearly that Li Lanfeng was the primary strategist of the Wuji Mecha Clan. Even though the Wuji Mecha Clan had taken in a new strategist this year, threatening his position within the faction, it could not be denied that the Wuji Mecha Clan's dominance over the Central Academy faction to stay in third place these past few years was definitely due to this person's strategies.
As a newborn faction, the other factions of the military academy were all rivals of the New Cadet Regiment. As such, this person should be someone on the opposing side, so why had he shown up here? With an expression filled with wariness, Wu Jiong asked coldly, "As the strategist of the academy's number three faction, the Wuji Mecha Clan, I'd like to know why you chose to hand this map to our regiment commander."
Wu Jiong had no doubts that this map had been submitted by Li Lanfeng. As the primary strategist of the Wuji Mecha Clan and a senior cadet who had hung around the academy for four years, it was still very possible for the other to obtain a top-secret map like this one.
Wu Jiong's questioning caused Li Lanfeng to instinctively shift back into his initial character role. With a slight smile on his face, he said, "Because I have already left the Wuji Mecha Clan and intend to join under Boss Lan's banner. And this map is my entrance submission. Boss Lan, isn't that so?" Li Lanfeng cast his gaze at Ling Lan, a subtle sense of pleading in his eyes, as if hoping for Ling Lan to work with him here.
Seeing this, Ling Lan nodded slightly and said, "Yes, it is indeed as he said." As expected of a black-bellied fellow, lies coming so easily to his lips ... Ling Lan found that she really did not know Li Lanfeng. Still, Ling Lan believed that Li Lanfeng's sincerity in wanting to join her battle clan was indisputable, even while he remained unaware of her true identity. This was why Ling Lan still chose to believe in Li Lanfeng even after learning of his true identity.
Wu Jiong was sceptical over Li Lanfeng's words, because no matter how you looked at it, the bright future of the Wuji Mecha Clan as one of the top three factions in the school was obviously much more attractive than the uncertain fate of the New Cadet Regiment. An intelligent person typically would not abandon Wuji and choose the New Cadet Regiment, and Li Lanfeng was precisely one of those most intelligent people.
Wu Jiong was not satisfied with Li Lanfeng's explanation, but seeing how composed Ling Lan was, he put aside the suspicions he harboured in his heart. Wu Jiong believed that since Ling Lan dared to take in Li Lanfeng, he must have some plan in mind. Perhaps there was some deeper meaning behind all this — Wu Jiong did not want to ruin Boss Lan's great plan by doing anything unnecessary.
However, Wu Jiong still could not help making a slight threat, "I hope you manage to do what you say ... don't disappoint Boss Lan." Strategists or whatever are the worst — they are all a bunch of inscrutable people with bellies full of plots and schemes — Wu Jiong was rather leery of people like that.
In response to Wu Jiong's threat, Li Lanfeng retained his usual smile just as if he had heard nothing, as composed as ever. This discouraged Wu Jiong somewhat — as expected, the other was not someone easy to handle.
At this point, Ling Lan could tell that this matter had come to a close. Not having to explain the source of the map made things considerably easier for Ling Lan. With a stern expression, she ordered all the team leaders, "Tally up the numbers immediately. Five minutes later, I want to know the final name lists for both groups."
"Yes, Regiment Commander!" replied everyone respectfully.
Five minutes went by quickly and the name lists were submitted. At this time, ten or so kilometres away from the academy, a sudden loud roaring of artillery firing could be heard, the flash from the shots lighting up the initially dark night ...
Everyone in the living room, other than Ling Lan, instantly leapt towards the windows. Looking up into the sky above, they saw that countless metal eggs had appeared. This scene caused all their faces to change. Although they trusted Boss Lan's judgment, really seeing it was another matter. When the night sky had been cut by the flares of artillery fire, what came into sight was a sky full of metal eggs, shocking them all to the core ... war had truly descended upon them.
Ling Lan calmly scanned the two lists in her hands and then clapping her hands together, she said loudly, "Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie!"
Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had been rendered dumbstruck by the scene in the sky; suddenly hearing Ling Lan shout out their names, they shivered and quickly replied, "Here!"
"You two, immediately lead the second team to the anti-air stronghold." Ling Lan handed the second name list to Wu Jiong.
Wu Jiong's gaze flickered but he did not reach out to take the list, as if somewhat hesitant to accept Ling Lan's orders. Ling Lan continued to say, "You both should know where the mecha storehouse is. We will wait for you two there. I cannot trust anyone else with this second group."
When Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie heard this, they were instantly filled with the feeling that it would be worth dying for someone who understood them. Wu Jiong nodded emphatically as he accepted the name list and replied, "Boss Lan, Yingjie and I will definitely make sure to escort them safely to the anti-air shelter."
Beside him, Li Yingjie also patted his chest in agreement that they would definitely complete the task given to them successfully.
Alright. This was the first time Li Yingjie, who liked strutting around causing trouble, had been entrusted with such an important task. In his excitement, his admiration for Boss Lan grew. Sure enough, Boss Lan was still the person who knew him best ... it actually felt so amazing to be trusted.
1. T/C: Ling Lan, please, your team is just crazy, okay? XD
Chapter 358 - This is Real Battle!
"Okay, then I'll leave everything to you both," said Ling Lan solemnly before turning to look at Chang Xinyuan to say, "Chang Xinyuan, you follow them!"
Chang Xinyuan's expression changed and he asked, "Why, Boss Lan?"
"This is a real battle. Your mecha control skills will not keep you alive on the battlefield." Ling Lan did not care about protecting Chang Xinyuan's feelings, bluntly telling him the reason for her order. This was not Mecha World, where Chang Xinyuan had his own modified mecha; all the mecha in the mecha storehouse would be standard mecha. Like Ling Lan had said, to survive the battlefield, they would need to rely on their own control skills and techniques.
Ling Lan's merciless words made Chang Xinyuan lower his head in shame. Ling Lan saw the dejected Chang Xinyuan and gave a mental sigh. It looked like she would not be able to set aside the role of spiritual life coach anytime soon. Thus, she said, "There will be many more opportunities to fight. Train your control skills up well after this so that, at that time, you will be able to move alongside us."
Ling Lan's words of reassurance did not make Chang Xinyuan feel much better. He clenched his fists tight with his head bowed, an uncontrollable sense of disappointment and rage in his heart. He was disappointed because he was being left behind again ... this was already the second time, and the reason for both times was the same — his mecha control skills were not up to par.
He knew that the support members of other battle clans typically would not go to the battlefield personally, using their talents to serve their battle clans from the rear instead. However, he did not want to become that type of support member. He wanted to be Lin Zhong-qing, or Li Shiyu, or Han Jijyun — they were all support members, but their combat prowess was formidable enough that he looked up to them. The more time he spent with them, the more keenly he felt his incompetence. The modification innate talent he was so proud of had no place at all here ... yes, he was angry at his own helplessness. If he had just spent a little more effort in the past to train up his mecha control skills, perhaps he would not have had to be left behind now.
However, this was the last time. He absolutely would not allow Boss Lan to leave him behind for the third time! Chang Xinyuan made this solemn vow to himself. Then, he lifted his head decisively to look at his boss and say firmly, "I will no longer be the weak link, Boss Lan. I will do what I say."
Even Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie standing to one side could feel Chang Xinyuan's determination, and they found their admiration growing even more for Ling Lan's ability to attract talent. Those who Boss Lan took in, no matter how useless they were at first, would soon go through tremendous changes, and this was something they could not replicate.
Chang Xinyuan's words made Ling Lan's heart move. She nodded seriously and said, "I believe you!" Ling Lan was more than glad to see a team member want to become stronger.
Right after that, Ling Lan turned to look at Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie and said, "Take action immediately. If the enemy manages to land successfully and get into the school, you all really won't be able to move anywhere anymore." The dormitory district was equipped with a full defensive beam shield. Once it activated due to artillery fire, those within the district would not be able to get out anymore, unless this defensive shield was broken by external forces.
Ling Lan did not think highly of this defensive beam shield. In her eyes, this was a design failure, which forced the students inside to become turtles in a jar. The moment the defensive beam shield was shattered, those cadets made to remain within the dormitory district would be served up to the enemy on a platter. This was also why Ling Lan had asked the students of the New Cadet Regiment to relocate to the anti-air shelter.
"Yes, Boss Lan!" Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie knew that time was short. Without further delay, they immediately went outside with Chang Xinyuan and led the second group swiftly away from Ling Lan's villa, sprinting towards their destination.
Following the departure of group two, the New Cadet Regiment which originally stood at near 300 members suddenly lost about half their number. Only about a little more than 100 members remained, and most of them were ex-students of the Central Scout Academy. They had fought alongside Ling Lan during the grand armed melee, as well as hijacked a spaceship with her. Now, under Ling Lan's lead once more, they were about to break into the military academy's mecha storehouse and engage in real mecha battle much earlier than expected. Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers — they were not afraid to fight; thoughts of the upcoming battle made them immensely excited instead.
It should be known that only cadets with exceptional results would have the chance to board real mecha and battle with them in their third year at the academy. Otherwise, they would only be able to use real mecha in their fourth year. But now, under Ling Lan's lead, this moment was brought forward by two to three years. They were even heading straight into the actual combat stage! This once again reinforced the notion that if they followed Boss Lan, they would definitely have lots of thrills to sink their teeth into 1 and would be able to do some things they would never have dared to even dream of on their own ...
Ling Lan looked around at these unusually excited faces and was secretly rather worried. Being too excited was not a bad thing, but they could not lose their calm. In particular, all these people had followed her since the Central Scout Academy days. Every time she pushed to do something outrageous, these schoolmates would support her without any hesitation or regret. It could be said that without their support, the grand armed melee back then would never have been launched at all. And without their full cooperation, taking control of the spaceship would not have gone so smoothly.
This time, she had boldly chosen to break into the mecha storehouse. Although a part of it was indeed a matter of personal safety — in the face of an overwhelming horde of enemy mecha, only mecha could provide Ling Lan with a sense of safety — a larger part was because she truly wanted to give these schoolmates who trusted her an extra measure of protection and the ability to truly decide their own survival. This way, she hoped that after tonight, she would still be able to see these schoolmates tomorrow ...
Ling Lan's entire aura unfolded as her ice-cold gaze swept dispassionately over the gathered people. Everyone there felt the icy blade of her gaze scrape across their skin, a chill rising from within them, and their initially restless excitement instantly cooled down.
Seeing the clarity and level-headedness in everyone's eyes once again, only then did Ling Lan say slowly, "I repeat once more that this is a real battle, not a game. It is not the virtual Mecha World where you can revive again after dying. The enemy we are about to face are real enemies. They are experienced battle veterans, they are fearsome executioners. If we die, it will be true death. There is no second chance ... even so, will you all still follow me to the mecha storehouse and operate mecha to fight the enemy to the death?"
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Ling Lan's words caused everyone's blood to boil. They seemed to have returned back to the time of the grand armed melee ... Ling Lan had asked something similar back then. That year, the same words shouted by the hundred thousand or so students of the 7th grade at the same time had seemed much more grand and impressive ...
"Then, I'll set the battle plan. Everyone, listen closely." Ling Lan once again circulated her spiritual power, funnelling her words forcefully into the spiritual well of these hundred or so students. "We will move and fight in small units. Remember, do not fight alone. Always keep in mind that while we fight for ourselves, we are also fighting for the comrades beside us. And one last thing. That is, we must come back alive!"
When Ling Lan roared out that final phrase, she used her strongest burst of spiritual power yet. She was about to lead her schoolmates in breaking into the mecha storehouse to fight with the enemy, all so that the students would live and become stronger — she did not want them to die here.
Ling Lan's words rallied the spirits of the cadets. The words 'come back alive' was imprinted deeply in their minds. At the same time, they glanced in unplanned unison at the companions by their sides and their initially somewhat uneasy hearts settled. At the sight of their friends, their agitation and uncertainty silently faded away. Boss Lan was right — they still had their comrades beside them; they were not fighting alone!
Just like that, Ling Lan led the hundred odd students away from the dormitory district in a rapid sprint towards the mecha storehouse about 10 kilometres away. In the meantime, far away in the opposite direction of their route, the endless roar of artillery fire sounded, accompanied by the occasional burst of fire illuminating the night sky.
As the ground forces had been unable to locate their targets with the radars, they could only rely on manual infrared telescopes to search out the enemy. After waiting patiently for more than 10 minutes, those airborne visitors they had waited so long for finally appeared in the sights of their infrared telescopes ...
"Chief, there's news! Countless unidentified objects have really appeared in the air above ..." The ground control headquarters, which had been waiting for news all this time, finally obtained the verification they needed.
"Son of a b*tch. Those f*ckers have finally come." The commander brusquely tore off his cap and threw it onto the ground. He tugged on his sleeves and then bellowed, "All artillery units, prepare to fire. Once the enemy is within range, shoot without mercy!"
"Yes, Chief!" The commander's words were very quickly transmitted by his subordinate officers. After some thought, the commander added, "Let the ground mecha forces prepare for battle. Those metal eggs must all contain mecha. Any mecha fortunate enough to survive and land are to be swiftly handled by the mecha teams."
The commander's orders were quickly passed on to the ground mecha troops. The mecha troops had long made preparations for battle. Receiving this order, they immediately dispersed with a column of troops making up each combat unit. Based on the information they had received from above, the metal eggs were raining down from all over, so no one would be able to tell which nook and cranny might have an enemy mecha which had landed successfully. Therefore, they had no choice but to spread out and search for those enemy mecha that had been lucky enough to evade the artillery fire.
Meanwhile, at this time, the starships in the skies had no idea that the secret invasion plan they had believed to be so flawless had been exposed by the presence of a miraculous intelligence entity. It had created some false information, allowing the ground forces to react in time and make the appropriate tactical arrangements ...
Finally, the metal eggs entered the range of the ground artillery. All of the cannons opened fire simultaneously, and the darkness of the night was suddenly ripped asunder by countless streaks of blazing fire as projectiles struck the first batch of metal eggs closest to the ground ...
After being struck by artillery fire, the metal eggs abruptly split open, dropping three or four mecha from within it ... some of the mecha still seemed fairly intact, but some had been instantly destroyed by the force of the artillery fire.
Although the metal eggs had the ability to hide from radars, there was a condition. The items loaded inside the eggs could not have any energy responses, otherwise this concealment ability would be disrupted. Thus, all of the mecha contained within the eggs were turned off. The operators inside had planned to only activate their mecha in the final 100 metres before they landed and break out of the egg's shell then ... mecha which were stripped of their defences were fragile. If a vital point was hit, it too would not be able to withstand a single attack from a normal cannon.
"What is going on here? How did the ground forces learn about our sneak attack?" The situation below was very quickly grasped by the fleet in space. The commander-in-chief could not help but growl furiously when he saw the tragic scene occurring below.
1. 绝对刺激有肉吃: Er ... it's literally 'definitely get lots of excitement and have meat to eat'. Basically, their appetite for thrills would be sated well.
Chapter 359 - Requesting Backup!
"The situation is unclear right now. In any case, it's already been confirmed that the ground forces below are prepared ... I'm afraid our ambush plan has been exposed." The adjutant could not help but swipe the cold sweat from his forehead as he said to the commander-in-chief.
The commander-in-chief breathed deeply a few times before quashing the rage beating at the walls of his chest. He knew that anger would not help anything — since it was certain that their sneak attack had failed, then they could only proceed with brute force! Coming to a decision instantly, he ordered, "Notify the men below. Let all mecha activate in advance. Break the shells now and attack!"
His orders were transmitted to the metal eggs and those eggs which had yet to enter the range of the cannons suddenly burst open. From within them, activated mecha emerged to descend swiftly, zooming towards the ground.
"Godd*mmit, these cannons can't penetrate the beam shields of the mecha," said a commanding officer, frustrated. He had observed this scene from a watchtower with an infrared telescope. Initially, he was hoping to destroy a few more of these metal eggs so that there would be fewer enemy mecha landing on the planet's surface. The fewer the better, but now it looked like things would not be that easy. The enemy was very alert — seeing that their sneak attack had failed, they had immediately switched to a direct attack.
Following the appearance of the mecha, the initially silent radars suddenly began screeching. Countless dots representing the enemies' mecha popped up all over the radar display. By this point, everyone now knew that those metal eggs must have some radar-shielding functions. It was lucky that the commander had been astute enough to see through the ruse and had told them to give up on the radars in favour of infrared telescopes instead. Although their search range would be limited by 7 to 8 times less, at least they had not been blind anymore and had been able to locate the invading enemy ...
The first few enemy mecha were already close to the ground. Just as they were rejoicing over their fortune in evading the cannonfire, they were struck in quick succession by several beam shots. A few unprepared enemy mecha died instantly, exploding. It turned out that the mecha columns waiting on the ground had all fired when they saw the enemy land, welcoming these enemy mecha with their beam guns.
Soon, the ground mecha forces and the enemy mecha descending from the skies began to fight. The flames of war very rapidly spread to the ground — when an errant missile fired by god-knows-who shot into the dormitory district of the First Men's Military Academy, the already startled awake district was instantly enveloped by a localised beam shield ... those inside could not come out, while those outside could not go in either. Unless the administration of the academy decided to override and get the mainframe to turn it off or an external force destroyed the shield, the shield would stand. If the latter happened, it would pretty much spell the loss of the Federation. The final outcome would be the complete annihilation of all the students in the dormitory district ...
The commander of ground control saw the dazzling beam shield appearing suddenly behind the ground troops, and he could not help but be greatly annoyed. Wasn't this just setting up a clear target for the enemy? Telling them: quick, come attack this spot ... Which idiot had designed this procedure? Although it must have been out of good intentions 1 , in the darkness of the night, set against such a chaotic and complicated attack situation, this was an absolutely foolish and reckless response.
Worried, the commander could not help but growl angrily at the officer beside him, "Godd*mmit, let the frontline warriors hold off the offence! We must not let the enemy's attacks reach the dormitory district of the military academy ..."
The future seedlings of hope of the Federation were there. Any students who could enter the First Men's Military Academy were sure to be the top talents of the Federation. Every single one was an elite with great potential which they could not afford to lose.
Right then, Little Four was still trying to make contact with those out of reach satellites, but unfortunately, till now, he had had no luck at all. He could not find any bit of signal from the various major satellites; this made him feel rather discouraged. He understood that the moment he left the virtual world and had his signal jammed by the enemy, he would be worthless ...
Luckily, he had perfectly completed the task his boss had assigned to him. He had taken the images from the invasion of planet Demonbeast 6 years ago and modified them to fabricate an image of the attack tonight. Then, faking a satellite transmission, he had sent the images to the intelligence department of ground control, giving the ground troops enough time to prepare. Watching those enemies descending from the skies being caught off guard by the ground forces, Little Four was pumped up. At the same time, he found his admiration for his boss growing even further, even thinking for a moment that his boss was a god, being able to guess so accurately how the enemy was invading!
Frankly, Little Four was overthinking things. Ling Lan had only hoped for the ground forces to be prepared, and the invasion of planet Demonbeast 6 years ago just so happened to be an air invasion as well, which fit the situation tonight very well. Thus, Ling Lan had made an impromptu decision to borrow the images from then. In fact, Ling Lan had no idea who the invading enemy was tonight or how they were attacking. It should be said that Ling Lan's luck was extraordinary — the images she had asked Little Four to send just so happened to match the truth. This great stroke of luck deftly concealed any sign of her interference. In the post-war analysis later on, both the Federation and Caesar would come to the same conclusion, believing that Caesar's satellite shielding technology was not sufficiently advanced, thus allowing one of the satellites to capture and transmit the images of their sneak attack ... the difference, however, was that the Federation would be relieved and gleeful about this point, while Caesar would be frustrated that the flaw in their technology had appeared at such a critical moment.
Still, as the battle progressed, the enemy adjusted to the situation and the inherent uncertainty of battle began to reveal itself. The fighting soon spread across the ground, and massive numbers of casualties began to appear among the ground forces. Meanwhile, an endless stream of mecha continued to descend from above ... this made Little Four feel somewhat unsettled.
At a loss, Little Four could only run back to ask for his boss's opinion, taking the opportunity to update his boss on the current battle situation as well. Frankly, as they were moving, when Ling Lan had seen the dormitory district suddenly become a shining beacon, she had sensed that the situation might soon become unfavourable for the Federation. Now, hearing Little Four's report, she knew that if the satellites continued to be sealed away so reinforcements could not be summoned in time, it would be very difficult for the ground forces to hold out for long on their own. Ling Lan was well aware of the power of a mecha. It was impossible to destroy even just a common lower mecha without suicidal-style attacks from a whole column of warriors 1 .
They needed to send out the news of the attack here as soon as possible. Ling Lan made a split decision to use the emergency helpline her father had given to her before he had left 1 . Ling Lan and Ling Xiao were all disciples of the Divine Command Sect. As a sect specialising in the cultivation of spiritual power, they naturally possessed a way to request for backup without the need for advanced high-tech signals.
Before Ling Xiao had departed from the academy, because he just could not push aside his worry, he had deposited a cord of his spiritual power within Ling Lan's mind. If Ling Lan found herself in any danger, she would only need to shake and detonate Ling Xiao's spiritual power. No matter how far away Ling Xiao was, he would be able to sense a disturbance in his spiritual power. Even though he would not be able to know the specific details, this strange occurrence would be enough to let Ling Xiao know that Ling Lan was in danger.
Ling Lan decisively shook and detonated Ling Xiao's cord of spiritual power. Her body jerked and her face turned pale. Detonating spiritual power stored within one's mind would deal a certain amount of damage to the bearer; this was also why Ling Xiao had emphasised that this method should only be used when she felt the situation was extremely dire ... the strange shift in Ling Lan's condition drew the attention of her companions. Qi Long asked quietly, "Boss, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. We should increase our pace. Time is running out," said Ling Lan calmly, forcibly suppressing the discomfort she felt in her spiritual power. After that, her speed picked up once more.
Seeing Ling Lan speed up like nothing was wrong, her companions let out a sigh of relief and relaxed. They sped up after Ling Lan. Only Li Lanfeng frowned as he stared at Ling Lan's still pale complexion, a trace of worry flashing across his eyes ...
Right then, on the military ship of the 23rd Division's assessment team, seated on the captain's seat, resting, Ling Xiao's eyes suddenly sprang open. He shot up in his seat, his initially mild and gentle aura turning cold in an instant. This caused the nonchalantly chatting officers by his side to fall silent instantly, turning to stare in bewilderment at this usually always mild-mannered sir general.
Ling Xiao had no mind to keep up appearances at this time, because he had sensed a sudden tug on his spiritual self. This meant that the spiritual deposit he had left in Ling Lan's mind had been hit and dispersed by someone.
"Contact the First Men's Military Academy immediately. Find out what's going on there ..." ordered Ling Xiao with an icy expression. Without a smile on his face, Ling Xiao actually looked a lot like Ling Lan — as expected of a father and a daughter.
"Contact established. The other party has responded that all is as usual," the operator responsible for external communications quickly replied.
Ling Xiao frowned when he heard this. If Ling Lan had detonated the spiritual power he had left in her mind, that must mean that some huge problem she could not handle on her own had cropped up where she was ... he immediately tried to connect to Ling Lan's communicator but only received a busy signal in return.
A cold glint passed through Ling Xiao's eyes, and he attempted to contact the old principal of the First Men's Military Academy, but still, all he received was just a busy signal.
Ling Xiao's gaze had become extremely shadowed by this time. He lifted his head to order once more, "Submit a request to the other side. Tell them we will be arriving at planet Newline tomorrow and to please allow us safe passage."
The operator was taken aback, but he very quickly transmitted Ling Xiao's words over to the other side. A few seconds later, the other party responded and the operator immediately reported, "General, the other side answered that planet Newline is currently off-limits to all visitors. The ban will only be lifted three days later. They hope we will cooperate and change our flight plan or wait for the ban to lift."
"Something has really happened." By now, there was no longer any doubt in Ling Xiao's mind. His request had only been a probe — having just departed from planet Newline themselves, he naturally knew there was no so-called ban order for planet Newline.
"Activate a launch port immediately. I'm going to pilot <Belief> over to planet Newline." Ling Xiao leapt to his feet and rushed anxiously toward the hold doors. His daughter's life was in danger — how could he just sit here as a father? He needed to get over there as soon as possible. The speed of a god-class mecha was 4 times faster than a warship, and when pushed to high gear, it could go up to as much as 7 times faster.
"General, that's too dangerous!" Hearing what Ling Xiao planned to do, Adjutant Qiao became flustered. He quickly rushed over as well to advise Ling Xiao against this plan of action.
Ling Xiao snapped his head around to glare fiercely at Adjutant Qiao, causing the other to cower instinctively. "This is an order!" Leaving these four words behind him, Ling Xiao vanished through the hold doors ...
"Domain ..." The highest ranked officer on the ship, a senior colonel, broke the shocked silence of the subdued crowd. Adjutant Qiao looked at the senior colonel and then looked at the rest of the crew, then, with a firm step, he once more chased after the general. As the adjutant to the general, he had to stop the general from taking this personal risk.
1. T/C: Really? Or is this another insidious attempt at sabotage from the traitor faction in the military? *dun dun dun!*
2. Non-mecha warriors, I presume.
3. T/C: Ling Xiao, the bestower of helpful gifts. Almost like an embedded deus ex machina ... :p