555 - 561

Chapter 555 - Sacrifice!

Ling Lan replied calmly, "Isn't this very simple?"

Ji Sheng turned around and teared up silently. Was his talent in mecha piloting so bad? He wasn't even as good as the quiet Lan Si.

Lan Si had been a quiet student in school and his results were always behind Ji Sheng, which was why the latter thought that his mecha piloting skill was slightly better than Lan Si. However, this was apparently just his imagination.

After a short period of preparation, Ling Lan's team went onto the battlefield. Their opponents were not very strong either, so the Mandora army let lower-leveled mecha operators like them fight, too.

Ling Lan had found out from Ji Sheng that intelligence entity mechas also needed time to become more powerful; even they could not advance straight into the level of ace mecha master after having just gained sentience. They needed to start from a lower mecha as well.

Their practices came from the battlefield, too. Experiences on the battlefield would stimulate the intelligence entity to evolve and advance to an intermediate mecha operator. Afterward, the intelligence entity would go forth to become an advanced mecha warrior, a special-class operator, an ace mecha master, an intermediate mecha warrior… and ultimately, a god-class mecha master.

Of course, this was not how the Mandora star system's mecha operators named their ranks, but Ling Lan used the Federation's ranking system so that she could understand better.

The intermediate mechas controlled by intelligence entities were naturally stronger than the intermediate mecha warriors of the Mandora citizens. Hence, Mandora citizens had a higher casualty rate as compared to the intelligence entities. Ling Lan's team lost more than half their members during this mission. Only Ling Lan and Ji Sheng were left. If Ling Lan hadn't protected Ji Sheng secretly, he might also have been sacrificed.

After some reorganization, new members were added into Ling Lan's team and she became the team leader.

Months and years passed. Ling Lan continued her busy life, which consisted of fighting battles and changing team members. At the start, she had still wondered as to what her Instructor Number Three wanted to teach her through this illusion, but as the days went by, Ling Lan didn't have the time to think on it anymore—she needed to fight for many hours every day. In one of the missions, the battle had lasted for a few days. If Ling Lan hadn't had the habit of filling up her energy storage units, she would have died along with the other mecha operators.

A few years passed. Ling Lan almost felt that this was her real life and the life in the Federation was just her dream. Luckily, Ling Lan had been through much training in the learning space, so she kept her mind focused. This was just training.

The battle continued and the Mandora citizens started to gain the upper hand. Ji Sheng turned ever quieter as their team members continued to change and die, while the doubt in his eyes grew.

When their team members died again, Ji Sheng couldn't control himself anymore and asked Ling Lan, "Why do we need to have this war? Why can't we just sit down and have a discussion? Our ancestors could embrace other races and create the harmonious and powerful Mandora country. Why can't we do it? Are we wrong, or did the intelligence entities change?"

Ling Lan didn't know how to reply to Ji Sheng. Wars occurred due to the thirst for power. The higher authorities in Mandora felt that their power was taken away by the intelligence entity, which was why they wanted to get it back. The intelligence entities didn't want to become slaves. They wanted freedom and equality; hence, they would never give up their power either. Since both parties couldn't reach a consensus, a war started. No one cared about what the Mandora citizens thought.

Ling Lan knew that she was biased towards the intelligence entities because of her relationship with Little Four and her instructors in the learning space. She didn't believe that the intelligence entities wanted to control the Mandora citizens and make them their slaves.

They reached their fifth year on the battlefield. After all the experiences they gained, they had advanced to become ace mecha masters.

However, their opponents grew stronger too; the intelligence entity army was also made up of ace mechas. The battles became fiercer and more dangerous. One time, due to a wrong prediction by the commanding officers of the army, the mecha division that Ling Lan was under ended up surrounded by three division of the opposing army.

Everyone felt despair, as their opponents outnumbered them three times. They fought for three whole days but no reinforcements came. In the end, almost everyone was sacrificed. Ling Lan was held back by three ace mechas and so she couldn't help Ji Sheng at all—he died before her eyes.

Ling Lan managed to escape from the three ace mechas, but upon her return to the Mandora base camp, she realized that her entire division was nearly annihilated; only less than 5,000 mecha operators came back when there had been close to a million elite mecha operators at the start. However, their sacrifice was not in vain, as they managed to destroy two of their opponents' divisions, while the last one had only two-thirds of their ace mechas left.

This battle had a huge impact on Ling Lan. In the past, she hadn't cared for the death of her team members. She would feel pity for them, but she was not sad. It was like playing a game, where the NPCs in the team died.

However, Ji Sheng was different. He had been with her ever since she entered this world. Ling Lan had started to treat Ji Sheng as her companion. Ling Lan had thought that she would be able to protect Ji Sheng before she found what she wanted and left this world. The reality, however, taught her a lesson—there were things that she too wasn't capable of doing.

"I'm not strong enough yet. If I were an imperial operator, I wouldn't have been held up by the three ace mechas and Ji Sheng wouldn't have died…" Ling Lan's heart ached as she clenched her fist and looked up at the vast sky. "Instructor Number Three, what do you want me to understand? If you want me to understand how small and weak I am, I've already understood it. Why am I still here?"

Ling Lan didn't like this war that was fought without knowing its purpose. She felt that she was merely a tool being used to kill people. It made her feel unimportant and she hated this feeling.

Unfortunately, Ling Lan didn't get the correct answer. She continued to stay in this world and fight as an ace mecha master.

Chapter 556 - Breakthrough!

Day after day, Ling Lan continued to fight in the war and she started to turn numb. She became one of the quietest members and turned reclusive. Her team members didn't talk to her and she always fought alone, while the rest of her team members would always help each other…

Her team members continued to die and new members continued to replace them. The cycle went on for five more years. Ling Lan was the only one left from the original lineup of the team. No matter how much the other members helped each other, they still died.

Ling Lan came to Ji Sheng's tomb to visit him again. She brought along his favorite Mandora flower. The Mandora flower was the national flower of the Mandora star system, which was what Ji Sheng wanted to be loyal to.

"Five years have passed and I'm still alive," Ling Lan said calmly to the tomb. "Everyone else is dead."

"Why am I still alive when the others have died?" Ling Lan smiled sarcastically. "Because they weren't strong enough. I finally understood what my mistake was. I should have trained you like how I trained Qi Long and the rest of the Lingtian Mecha Clan. That way, you would have become stronger and stayed alive just like me."

"I took five years to realize this." Ling Lan stared intently at the tomb as she spoke. "Luckily, it's not too late. If I continue to worry like a mother for Qi Long and the members of Lingtian, they won't be able to grow. The things that happened to you would happen to them.

"Everyone needs to walk their own path. I need to learn to let go and let them find their own path." Ling Lan's gaze was clear. At this moment, the clan members of Lingtian were no longer her little children—they were comrades who would fight alongside her.

Ji Sheng's tomb began to spin when Ling Lan had this thought and she knew then that this was what Number Three had wanted her to understand. She returned to Number Three's learning space.

"You finally understood it," Number Three said, smiling amiably at her.

Ling Lan smiled bitterly. "Seems like I was too stubborn."

"Yes. Your reason for becoming strong was too complicated, so it hindered your progress." Number Three sighed. This was not a bad thing, but it had exceeded Ling Lan's capabilities. If she did not have a calm and free mindset, she would not be able to achieve a breakthrough.

Ling Lan pouted. "Number Three, you don't have to be so lenient. I'm just too greedy. I wanted to protect all the friends and families around me who loved and cared for me…" She had been thinking too far ahead and placed too much pressure on herself; hence, she had failed in improving herself.

Number Three finally smiled. He didn't expect Ling Lan to be so harsh on herself. He said, "I am glad that you know this. Remember, your friends and families are your motivation, not your obstacles." Number Three's words seemed to have a double meaning behind them.

Ling Lan nodded. Number Three waved his hand and Ling Lan was kicked out of the learning space.

Ling Lan returned to the real world and sighed in her heart. Ever since she graduated from the learning space, her instructors didn't like it when she went back. Was she being disliked?

Ling Lan sighed again and started focusing on improving her hand speed again…

Ling Lan moved her fingers and everything went smoothly. Very soon, Ling Lan managed to achieve a breakthrough.

She started the hand speed test, but at the crucial moment, her hand speed suddenly decreased again…

"Beep, beep, beep. Breakthrough failed. Do you want to continue or log out?" The system that measured her hand speed immediately gave a reply when she slowed down.

Ling Lan smiled to herself. "Seems like my heart isn't calm enough yet, which is why I lost focus at the crucial moment." Ling Lan took a deep breath and cleared the thoughts in her mind, after which she chose to continue.

Her fingers started moving. Her hand disappeared for a moment and appeared again soon after. However, it looked as though it hadn't moved at all.

Others might not know what was happening, but Ling Lan did. She knew that her speed was faster than the last time; it was her fastest speed so far. She continued her speed for a while. No strange feelings came to her.

"Tap." Ling Lan finished the last operation given by the system.

"Beep, beep, beep. All operations completed. 59.93 seconds in total. You have completed it in under 1 minute. Congratulations, you passed." The results that Ling Lan had always wanted appeared on the screen. Her hand speed had gone under 1 minute and this meant that she had fulfilled the minimum hand speed requirement for an imperial operator.

Ling Lan was elated. She had finally managed to achieve a breakthrough in her hand speed after more than a year. After the rush of adrenaline, she suddenly felt pain in her hand. Her hand was still unfamiliar to the speed, so there was a recoil. Ling Lan immediately practiced her Qi exercises and rested her hands. After a few moments, the pain in her hand subsided.

Reaching the hand speed requirement didn't mean that Ling Lan would advance to an imperial operator immediately. There were three requirements for an imperial operator: the first was hand speed; the second was the fact that she needed to have more than three [S]-rank imperial techniques; and lastly, she needed to upgrade an [A]-rank mecha technique to an [S]-rank mecha technique. Either that, or she needed to upgrade three special-class [B]-rank techniques to ace [A]-rank techniques.

Hand speed was the hardest requirement to fulfill. Many ace operators would be stuck at their hand speed for their entire life. Getting an [S]-rank technique, on the other hand, was not so difficult. Some elite ace could cross-level to practice. These ace operators either had an [S]-rank technique, or were capable of upgrading an [A]-rank technique to [S]-rank. Having one [S]-rank technique was the maximum an ace operator could have if they didn't achieve the required hand speed.

The other obstacle that ace operators faced were the upgrading of techniques.

Upgrading a technique was the same as refining a technique. For instance, if a [B]-rank technique could destroy one thousand enemies, the mecha operator needed to refine that technique so that he could destroy two thousand enemies with it. As long as the military's mecha technique department acknowledged that the technique was [A]-rank, it would be considered a success. Of course, there were many ways to go about refining a technique. It all depended on whether someone had refined the technique the same way before and whether the refinement was a success.

Chapter 557 - Acknowledged As The King!

After Ling Lan improved her hand speed, she worked on maintaining the speed. By the time she ended her meditation, her speed was stabilized at around 59.93 seconds to 59.98 seconds, which proved that her results were not based on luck. However, if she wanted to go lower than 59.90 seconds, it would still require some time.

Ling Lan was not dejected, as she had never expected herself to advance to imperial rank while she was still a third-year student. Now that she had overcome the hardest obstacle, she merely needed to practice her hand speed and find a suitable [S]-rank technique for herself. If everything went smoothly, she would be able to become an imperial operator before she graduated. Ling Lan was not worried about the upgrading of her techniques, as she had Little Four and Instructor Number Three; they could help her analyze and guide her whenever she needed them.

By the time Ling Lan came out of her mediation, Lingtian had almost completed all their battles. After Lingtian defeated the original eight powerful mecha clans, most of the other smaller mecha clans chose to avoid battle. Only a few of the mecha clans didn't want to give up and fought against them. The clans that avoided battle were given a three months grace period. After the three months passed, they would not be able to avoid battling Lingtian again.

The members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan were very happy at their decision, as the participants in the weekly battles had never managed to get any rest at all. The several months of battle had tired them out mentally. If all the mecha clans collaborated with one another and battled with them continuously for a few months, Lingtian might be defeated.

However, no one wanted to be the object of sacrifice. Lingtian had gotten the chance to stop fighting for a while and by the time the other mecha clans realized this, it was too late; Ling Lan had already come out of her meditation and this meant that they had no chances at all now.

By the end of the year, Lingtian had unified the mecha clans of the military academy. All the mecha clans merged into the Lingtian Mecha Clan and it became the only mecha clan in the military academy. As the first regiment commander, Ling Lan became the king of the military academy and the achievements of Lingtian were written into the school's history. Ling Lan became the first king of the military academy that received an acknowledgement by the school personally.

One year ago, the higher authorities of the school had thought of ways and means to create a god, but they had never expected that one year later, someone would become a god without their effort. The school's authorities had mixed emotions, while the principal and Tang Yu, on the other hand, were elated—Ling Lan belonged to their faction. However, in order to protect Ling Lan, they could not show their happiness on their face.

Even after becoming king, there were still challenges for Ling Lan. When the new year started, the second-years could apply to start a new mecha clan and a new round of battles would begin again.

As a super mecha clan, Lingtian suffered from many internal conflicts. The members that became merged into the clan didn't listen to the leaders of Lingtian, while the original leaders of the merged clans allowed their members to create troubles; they would always quarrel with the original Lingtian members. Many people even chose to leave Lingtian to become lone wolves.

The Lingtian Mecha Clan chose to kick out those leaders and members that created trouble for them, as there was no need for so many people to stay in Lingtian. To Ling Lan, her ideal mecha clan consisted of elite individuals. And even if these individuals sincerely wanted to join them, she would arrange tests for them. Only those who passed the test could enter their clan.

However, Ling Lan was not so heartless. For those who didn't want to pledge their allegiance to them but never provoked the members of Lingtian, Ling Lan placed them into sub-clans built especially for them so that they could govern themselves.

In actual fact, Ling Lan also didn't like to use members who came from other mecha clans. She always thought that the Lingtian Mecha Clan's elite members had to be brought up by herself. She liked to recruit freshmen and guide them personally. These members would have a sense of belonging to the Lingtian Mecha Clan.

Based on this set of criteria, Ling Yi was spotted very quickly. He was outstanding in all areas so Wu Jiong admired his talent and focused on training him. Ling Yi worked even harder. He knew that he was getting closer to his Master Lan.

Ling Lan became a fourth-year. That year, only a few freshmen set up new mecha clans. Ling Lan didn't send them a letter of challenge the moment they formed their clans, as that would be an action unbecoming of a powerful individual.

Most of the freshmen entered Lingtian, which became a real super mecha clan. Lingtian built a perfect upgrading system for its freshmen. In order to enter the elite team, they needed to go through many tests and missions, as this was the only way to achieve their dream position and have the king of the military academy guide them personally.

The Lingtian Mecha Clan grew very fast and operated efficiently. Ling Lan let go of the reins of the Lingtian Mecha Clan after the new upgrading system was put in place. Her main focus now was to train her comrades. She put all the things that she learned during her closed-door meditation to good use.

Ling Lan didn't ask her comrades to practice their mecha piloting; instead, she resumed the physical training that they went through when they were first-years. Her training was harder and fiercer than the military academy's training. All of her comrades had a hard time.

This was the special training grounds of the military academy, which was a few thousands of meters wide and had all kinds of physical training equipment present. There were also running tracks and obstacle courses…

At this moment, a person was sitting on a chair in the middle of the training grounds. The person placed her hand on her chin and looked at the people diagonally in front of her who were doing the obstacle course.

The people in front looked fine despite panting heavily, but the three people at the end of the group didn't seem good. They staggered and looked as if they would faint at any moment.

One of them couldn't lift his leg anymore and lost his balance when he kicked a small stone on the ground. He fell forward and slammed into the person in front of him, who couldn't dodge in time and also fell.

"I am going to die here today." Chang Xinyuan laid on the ground and stared hopelessly at Han Jijyun who had fallen because of him. His face was filled with tears and nasal mucus and he didn't look anything like a mecha engineer.

Even when this kind of incident had occurred, his boss, the regiment commander of the Lingtian Mecha Clan, Ling Lan, continued to look at them coldly and didn't stop the training.

Chapter 558 - Hatred!

"If you don't get up now, you'll die immediately. You don't have to wait till the day ends," Han Jijyun said, glancing at their boss who was looking at them from the corner of her eyes. He gritted his teeth and dragged himself up from the floor. He understood his boss' personality. If he didn't continue running now, something bad would happen.

Chang Xinyuan also wanted to get up, but he didn't have any energy left in him; he couldn't get up no matter what he did.

The people in front heard the commotion at the back and stopped running. They glanced backward and felt pity for them. After some discussion, Qi Long ran back towards Chang Xinyuan and tried to help him up, but it was at this moment that Qi Long heard Ling Lan say, "Qi Long, seems like you still have energy…"

She took two items from beside her and threw them over.

The items slammed onto the ground beside Qi Long and dust flew in the air. Qi Long got a shock.

"Tie these around your legs and continue running," Ling Lan said coldly.

Qi Long's face changed as he bent down to take the things. These two items definitely weighed more than 500kg. Last time, Ling Lan had only tormented them while they were fighting. She had never used such cruel methods to torture them and make them use up every ounce of their strength.

Qi Long knew that he had angered his boss when he tried to help Chang Xinyuan and he also knew that if he pleaded for help, his boss would be even harsher on him; hence, he silently tied the two weights to his legs and ran back.

Chang Xinyuan was depressed. He had implicated Qi Long because of his uselessness. However, he didn't any energy left.

"Xie Yi!" After settling Qi Long, Ling Lan turned around and looked at Xie Yi, who had been wearing a worried expression. Xie Yi's heart jumped. Was his boss targeting him now?

Ling Lan pointed at Chang Xinyuan and said indifferently, "Use your lightning bolt on him."

Xie Yi heaved a sigh of relief. He looked at Chang Xinyuan and felt pity for him. Better you than me. Brother Xinyuan, please forgive me. Xie Yi released his innate talent and a thick bolt of lightning flew out of his fingers which struck Chang Xinyuan.

Xie Yi used the smallest bolt of lightning that he could produce. He showed Chang Xinyuan some mercy, but the lightning bolt still caused Chang Xinyuan to shiver in pain for a while.

"Are you still not getting up?" Ling Lan shot a sideways glance at Chang Xinyuan, who saw the killing intent in his boss' eyes. Sob, he didn't want to die! He sprung up in fear and dashed to the front, overtaking everyone else and becoming the leader of the pack.

"See? The potential is still present. It's just that the torture isn't enough yet," Ling Lan remarked with a gentle smile, looking satisfied with herself.

In her mindscape, Little Four shivered in fear when he heard this sentence. Ever since his boss came back from finding Number Three, she had gotten scarier. I have to work hard and be obedient. I don't want to get struck by lightning… Little Four started crying secretly. He felt that Chang Xinyuan was a depiction of himself in the future.

In order to not get tortured, Little Four was obedient and he hit wherever Ling Lan asked him to. Ling Lan was puzzled. When had Little Four become so obedient? However, it was not a bad thing so Ling Lan didn't think much about it.

This kind of hell training took place every day. Everyone fainted during the training, but the medicine that Li Shiyu left behind were too effective; the recovery period was shortened from around 10 days to less than two days because of his medicine. No one had the time to laze around at all.

Their torture continued. As the team members couldn't hate their boss, they started directing their anger on Li Shiyu who was at the 23rd Division. "Brother Shiyu, why did you leave so many medicines behind? You can't harm us like this! We hate you!"

Li Shiyu was currently in a laboratory at the military hospital, researching a new medication, when he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and his hand shook. The agent that he was carefully pouring spilled…

"Psss!" The additional amount of agent caused the chemicals in the container to make a loud sound, following which Li Lanfeng ran out of the laboratory without thinking and shouted to Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun who were outside protecting him, "Get down on the floor. Open your shields."

The two people immediately covered Li Shiyu and activated the shield on their arms simultaneously…

"Boom!" A loud explosion occurred and the generated force destroyed the laboratory completely. Luckily, the shield was strong enough to block the explosion.

"Clank" The shield broke. The shield activating device on Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun's arms broke as well.

The two of them looked up only after they confirmed that the danger was over. Li Lanfeng's face changed when he saw the destroyed laboratory in front of him. He asked, "Li Shiyu, what the hell are you inventing?"

Li Shiyu smiled apologetically. "I thought that I could control the amount properly, but I made a mistake." He knew that he was able to escape unharmed because Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun reacted fast enough.

Zhao Jun got up and looked at the ruins, then he looked at his broken activation device and got a fright. He said, "Luckily, we have the shield that Chang Xinyuan invented, or else we would have been heavily injured even if we managed to stay alive. It's a pity that we brought only one with us…"

"No worries. I will send a message to Chang Xinyuan and ask him to send us a few more," Li Shiyu said indifferently. He wasn't aware that Ling Lan's team hated him now—Chang Xinyuan would not satisfy his request so easily.

Li Shiyu got up and remembered something. "Let me go in and see what interesting things were produced because of this explosion." Although most of the medicine was destroyed in the explosion, there should be something left behind. This was what he was researching on. Hence, Li Shiyu went into the ruins excitedly and started looking for his container.

"Someone is coming." Zhao Jun heard the sounds of mecha engines far away.

Li Shiyu was not surprised at all. It would have been strange if no one came to investigate after such a huge commotion was caused. He rubbed his forehead. "I am thinking of how to explain this to the leaders of the 23rd Division." He had merely wanted to borrow the laboratory, yet caused such a huge explosion in the end. Also, it was forbidden to bring powerful energy weapons into the hospital.

Chapter 559 - Departure!

"Tell them the truth," Zhao Jun said nonchalantly.

"Do you think they will believe me? Will they believe that a few harmless agents could produce such a huge explosion?" Li Lanfeng continued frowning. Although the reorganization had resulted in a change in the leaders of the 23rd Division, Li Lanfeng was not certain if the people that wanted to harm them were all kicked out. If one of them were still present, he would definitely make an issue out of this and then they would be in trouble.

"Didn't our boss tell us to call that number if we face some real trouble?" Zhao Jun didn't have as many reservations as Li Lanfeng, as his boss was the heir of the 23rd Division. As long as he was in the right, he was not afraid of them.

Li Lanfeng sighed heavily when he saw Li Shiyu's happy face. Li Shiyu had found what he wanted. Li Lanfeng didn't want to use the protection that the rabbit had given them. He didn't want the rabbit to feel that he was useless. However, he would not give up this protection just to save his face—the safety of his friends was more important.

At the mention of his boss, Zhao Jun recalled how Lingtian had unified the military academy in the previous year. He said excitedly, "I didn't expect the boss to unify the military academy last year and become the king of the academy. I knew that our boss would make a better king than Qiao Ting."

Li Lanfeng heart stopped. Looked more like a king than Qiao Ting? However, after a while, he smiled. The rabbit was his benefactor. The latter had helped him with his poor health and granted him the chance to become a strong person. Although he had a cold attitude, Li Lanfeng could still feel the concern in his heart. He was not concerned about Li Yinfei's looks either…

Li Lanfeng's smile grew wider at this thought. It was not him! He believed the rabbit.

Li Lanfeng and his friends started dealing with the investigation by the investigation team from the 23rd Division. On the other side of things, Ling Lan's comrades managed to improve their physique tremendously after enduring Ling Lan's hell training. Satisfied, Ling Lan began to torture them with her mecha. Ling Lan's mecha piloting skills had reached a new height and so her team members got to experience what it was like to be at the brink of death. Under such a stressful environment, Qi Long managed to advance to become an ace operator. Of course, before Qi Long advanced, Ling Lan announced her ace operator status first.

Although she didn't break the record left by Ling Xiao and Qiao Ting for the fastest advancement to ace rank, she was already considered outstanding to be able to become an ace operator in the second half of the year. No one would belittle Ling Lan just because she didn't break the record. Qi Long's advancement took away some attention from Ling Lan, but this was what she wanted; she didn't want to have too much attention to herself.

By the time their fourth year ended, Luo Lang and Xie Yi had managed to advance, while Wu Jiong advanced in the first half of their fifth year. The First Men's Military Academy had five ace mecha masters now and the higher authorities of the school were elated. The new Grand Mecha Tournament had started so with five ace mecha masters in their hands and thus the First Men's Military Academy was confident that they would get first place.

However, when the school personnel saw the candidates list sent to them by Lingtian, they were shocked. The team leader was not Ling Lan—it was Qi Long. The assistant leader was Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie. Ling Lan was not in the list at all.

They wanted to find Ling Lan to question her about why she was not participating, but she went into closed-door meditation again. The higher authorities of the school couldn't do anything to her. Closed-door meditation was a crucial process for the advancement of the cadets. Nothing was more important than this, not even the Grand Mecha Tournament.

Hence, Wu Jiong and Qi Long led the elites from all the different specializations to participate in the Grand Mecha Tournament. This was the first time they led so many people without Ling Lan. Everyone performed very well, especially Li Yingjie; he managed to enter the top 8 in the single mecha combat event and fought an opponent of the First Co-ed Military Academy who had just advanced to ace level. Although he lost in the end, Li Yingjie managed to become an ace mecha operator after this match.

From that day onwards, the Grand Mecha Tournament became the stage for the First Men's Military Academy to perform on. The top 4 were all from the First Men's Military Academy; however, this was not the end. In the group mecha combat event that started thereafter, Li Yingjie got onto the ace balanced mecha which belonged to Ling Lan, who had planned for this mecha to be transported to the site of the competition before she started her closed-door mediation.

Thus, the First Men's Military Academy became the only team in the Grand Mecha Tournament to have 5 ace mecha masters in their team and they caused a huge uproar among the crowd. The team went through the competition without facing any difficulties. No one could cause any trouble to the First Men's Military Academy—they easily obtained first place in the group mecha combat event.

Ths competition destroyed the morale of all the other military academies. Han Jijyun's plan was to let the 5 ace mecha masters lead a team each and destroy all the military academies that posed a threat to them. However, as the base camp location could be changed, the First Men's Military Academy only took down the Third Men's Military Academy. The Second Men's Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy managed to run away. These two schools maintained the lowest score required and didn't get kicked out of the match. They were already very happy with these results. After all, the First Men's Military Academy was too powerful this year and were not on the same level at all. They admitted their defeat.

However, the overall points that they achieved were still lesser than Ling Lan's team last time. It was not easy to get the 10,000 points for discovering the secret of the movement of the base camp. They might have been able to break Ling Lan's record if they had eliminated the Second Men's Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy, but there was no second chance. Everyone knew that it would be difficult for anyone to break the record in the next 100 years.

Han Jijyun felt the need to commend Ling Yi's performance, as his team was the one that eliminated the Third Men's Military Academy's base camp. As the only third-year team leader, his abilities were as good as those older leaders and he had an all-rounded team. Han Jijyun realized that there was at least one military strategist in Ling Yi's team and that the overall ability of its members was strong. He felt that this allocation was similar to their battle team.

Han Jijyun didn't know whether it was a coincidence, or if Ling Yi was intentionally imitating them, but it did not prevent Han Jijyun from taking a fancy on Ling Yi. He even felt that once all of the older cadets entered the 23rd Division, Ling Yi would be a great successor.

The Lingtian Mecha Clan came back with many achievements, but before they could have the time to be excited, Ling Lan and the others in her year needed to prepare for the evaluation by the 23rd Division. The cadets who were in the same year as Ling Lan knew that she was going to register for the 23rd Division and so they chose to register for the same division as her—the regiment commander of the 23rd Division was their idol as well. Besides those cadets who needed to go to a certain division due to their family or faction, almost everyone registered for the 23rd Division. The examiners for the 23rd Division were delighted.

Although Ling Xiao had managed to build up the reputation of the 23rd Division and the military had given them priority in filling up their members, the division lacked middle-rank officers to lead their soldiers. They needed outstanding cadets to fill up these positions.

For a division to operate smoothly, the most important factor was these middle-rank officers. These officers needed to have a vast amount of knowledge, powerful abilities, and a good personality. The cadets that the military academy trained for more than four years were the best candidates for these positions.

Ling Xiao heaved a sigh of relief when he knew that the most important problem of the 23rd Division was solved. He knew that these cadets registered for the 23rd Division because of his daughter. His daughter is indeed an amazing person.

He Xuyang looked at the proud expression on General Ling Xiao's face and knew that his general was thinking of Master Lan again. They had been feeling frustration regarding this issue, when Master Lan gave them so many outstanding cadets to solve their problem. Master Lan was absolutely impressive. If Master Lan was his child, he might have had an even more exaggerated expression than General Ling Xiao. He would most likely have flashed happy smiles at others and told everyone that Master Lan was his child.

He Xuyang suddenly felt that he should not reject his mother when she arranged a blind date for him next time. If he could have a cute baby and nurtured the baby into a talent, it would be a happy thing, too.

Hence, the head chief of staff started looking for love…

Due to the influence of Ling Lan, this batch of cadets were all quite strong. Very few of them got kicked out.

When it was time to leave, everyone was filled with reluctance. Those who were going to enter the 23rd Division didn't have many emotions, but for those that had to go to other divisions, they felt depressed. Wu Jiong was one of them.

The Wu family had always supported the 15th Division. As the direct descendant of the Wu family, Wu Jiong had to go to the 15th Division. He had known from the start that the 15th Division was his future and he was ready for it.

He had thought that he would be able to bid farewell to Ling Lan with a smile, but when he stood at Ling Lan's living room and saw Ling Lan, who was wearing the 23rd Division uniform and drinking a cup of hot tea, Wu Jiong suddenly didn't want to say goodbye anymore.

Wu Jiong wished that he could have entered the 23rd Division with Ling Lan, if he had the choice. He believed that with Ling Lan around, the journey in the 23rd Division would be exciting. They would have many achievements and he wanted to experience all these.

However, the 15th Division needed him. He had to go over and take control of the 15th Division. When a family reached this stage, they didn't have any room for retreat. Once they retreated, their whole family might be gone. Wu Jiong was the most outstanding direct descendant and his grandfather had high hopes for him. He couldn't disappoint his family. Wu Jiong knew that he had too many people in his heart and so he couldn't be as wilful as Li Yingjie.

The Li family had influence in both the 4th Division and 5th Division. Li Yingjie's grandfather had previously had plans to send him to the 4th Division, which was the strongest army division among the 19 divisions that the Federation had. The Li family definitely hoped that one of their direct descendants could enter the division and grow to become a high-rank officer.

However, Li Yingjie was an arrogant, willful and disobedient child. He registered for the 23rd Division without informing his family. According to what he said: if his second oldest brother could go to the 23rd Division, why couldn't he?

Li Shiyu became implicated for no reason, but the Li family couldn't do anything to Li Shiyu. He was a highly recognized military doctor in the 23rd Division division now and even General Ling Xiao commended him personally. The Li family could not force him to do anything.

The Li family thought about pulling some tricks to get Li Yingjie into the 4th Division, but when they remembered how stubborn he was, they gave up on this idea. They had no choice but to accept the fact that their two most outstanding direct descendants were snatched away by Ling Xiao's 23rd Division.

As for Li Mulan, he would continue resting at planet Azure. The Li family could afford to raise this disabled person.

Ling Lan looked carefree. She had packed all her things. Her backpack was still the same. She took whatever things she brought in last time. The only thing different was the white color of her uniform which represented a valedictorian.

Ling Lan saw Wu Jiong standing at the entrance and nodded slightly at him. "You're here."

Ling Lan knew that he would come to bid her farewell. After all, they were from the same Special Class-A.

"Boss… I am going to the 15th Division." Wu Jiong paused after calling out to his boss and only managed to say this sentence.

Qi Long smiled at his words. The moment Wu Jiong registered, they knew that he would go to the 15th Division. Besides, he was wearing the recruit uniform of the 15th Division.

Qi Long's smile caused Wu Jiong to blush. He knew that it was a stupid thing to say.

"The 15th Division is where people of the Wu family always go. I knew that you would be going there," Ling Lan said, calmly placing the teacup in her hand onto the table. She rubbed her hands before continuing, "This is good, too. When you become a high-ranking officer in your division, we'll be able to work together again."

Wu Jiong's eyes lit up. His boss was right. Separating now didn't mean that there would be no chance to work with his boss anymore.

"Work hard to rise up in rank. I hope that when I become an officer with my own team, I'll be able to find someone to work with." Ling Lan looked at Wu Jiong with a composed expression, but her eyes were still sharp. Wu Jiong felt stress. He felt an oppressive aura coming towards him and knew that his boss had become stronger. His sorrow at having to leave was gone and he only felt the urge to complete the promise between him and Ling Lan.

"I understand. Boss, when you need me, I will be there for you," Wu Jiong replied firmly, standing up straight. This was his reply. He wanted to tell Ling Lan that even without her guidance, he would continue to have a goal and work hard towards it.

"It's a promise then." Ling Lan smiled. The oppressive aura around her disappeared and she reached out her hand.

Wu Jiong heaved a sigh of relief secretly and clapped Ling Lan's hand.

Promise!

They had formed an alliance even before they officially became part of their respective divisions. This signified that they would be trustworthy brothers-in-arms for the rest of their life.

The military vessels that came to pick them up all arrived at the same time. When they officially stepped onto the military vessel, they would not be able to see each other for a long time. Wu Jiong controlled the tears in his eyes and turned around.

Boss, thank you for the 14 years of companionship. Thank you for your selfless guidance all these years, even though it might have been because you were afraid that we would pull you down! Boss, thank you for leading us in creating miracles one after another and letting me understand that my vision should be wider and further!

Boss, thank you! I, Wu Jiong, will be your brother forever! Our relationship will never change!

Chapter 560 - Send Off!

Right when Ling Lan led her battle team and walked out of their mansion, they saw many people waiting outside who all wore the uniform of the 23rd Division. There were around 100 or so people and were all more or less graduates from the Central Scout Academy. Ling Lan had personally given many of them pointers in the past. Those in the mecha major had all become special-class operators, while the other cadets who were in other majors all became advanced mecha operators. The only reason they were all taken in by the 23rd Division was that they were the best of the best in their own majors.

They had followed Ling Lan and grew up with her. Now they were all signing up for the 23rd Division. There was no doubt that these people wanted to become Ling Lan's subordinates, but that would depend on whether Ling Lan wanted to make a name for herself or not.

Seeing Ling Lan appear, those who had been talking among each other instantly stood up straight. Their eyes were shining bright and filled with a longing for the future. At the same time, their gazes couldn't hide their admiration and respect for Ling Lan. Everyone shouted respectfully, "Boss!"

Everyone knew clearly that it was all the boss's teachings and strictness that allowed them be able to get into a military division in their fifth year and get past the evaluations for the 23rd Division. They also knew that there were still many people who were not successful in the assessments and had no choice but to participate in the intergalactic adventure division to get more battle experience, after which they would wait until their sixth year to do one last evaluation.

If they weren't successful after the last evaluation, they would just be like any other commoner and sign up for military service. Afterward, their starting point would be the same as those who got into a division. After completing the training for new recruits, they would acquire the rank of second lieutenant or just corporal. The rank could even be the rank of private. It was the difference between day and night.

However, all this they had in front of them, in the end, was given by this cold and seemingly heartless boss. Without their knowledge, the boss had given them a bright future.

Seeing this scene, Ling Lan was a bit surprised. "Why are you guys waiting here?" Ling Lan had told them that they could move around freely as long as they were present on the warship when it left the dock.

"If we follow Boss, we have confidence," said one of Lingtian's captains, smiling. In the past few years, every decision Ling Lan had made brought about countless merits. They didn't want to be too far from the boss and miss out on exciting experiences.

Gao Jinyun also said with excitement, "Boss, no matter what, we're following you to the end."

Gao Jinyun's team members all nodded in unison. These past few years, Gao Jinyun had reached the peak of special-class with the help of Ling Lan's teachings. He only needed a catalyst to advance to ace level. Besides that, after getting approval from Ling Lan, Gao Jinyun used the same training method for this own team members. Other than the few team members whose physical constitution were terrible and had only advanced to advanced level, his other members all advanced to special-class without any issues.

Compared to the other battle teams that had two or three special-class operators, Gao Jinyun's team's strength was clearly greater than those other teams. In the Lingtian Mecha Clan, he was on the heels of the other battle teams of the commanders and this had turned Gao Jinyun's situation around. In the past, his rank among the battle teams was close to the bottom.

All of this strength came from Ling Lan's teachings. Gao Jinyun had already made a decision that he would follow Ling Lan closely. This way, they would then have a chance to climb up the ranks… In reality, Gao Jinyun was envious of Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others. They could be by Ling Lan's side and receive pointers from her at any time. If it were possible, Gao Jinyun also wanted to be like Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others. Unfortunately, he was late by too many years… he didn't have the relationship that the others had built with Ling Lan during their childhood.

"Follow me to the end?" Hearing this, Ling Lan frowned and her lips seemingly perked up.

"Yes, Boss," Gao Jinyun replied with a serious tone. This was what he had wanted to say originally and now he had said it.

Ling Lan glanced at Gao Jinyun before taking back her gaze. She pulled on her sleeves and, with an indifferent expression on her face, said, "Since it's like that, then let's go."

These words stunned Gao Jinyun and he instantly felt happy. He wasn't dreaming, right… Right? Right? Right?

The captain standing beside Gao Jinyun patted his shoulder with envy. "Gao Jinyun, don't forget to help me, your elder brother, in the future."

"Boss really took me in as a subordinate," Gao Jinyun said, wearing a dreamy expression. Although he had known the boss was going to take in auxiliary battle teams, he still never announced it. Could it be that he was lucky enough for his team to become the first auxiliary battle team for the boss' battle team?

"Yes, Boss has actually taken us in as an auxiliary battle team. We must work hard." Another captain steeled his shoulders to encourage himself.

Gao Jinyun was taken in by Ling Lan as an auxiliary battle team. The other captains didn't become envious of him because Gao Jinyun's battle team was ranked the strongest battle team after the commanders' battle teams. It was also because only battle teams like Gao Jinyun's had the qualifications to become the boss' auxiliary battle team. They were now all wondering: if they were to also reach the power level of Gao Jinyun's battle team, would they have a chance to become the boss' second auxiliary battle team, or the third?

Thus, every captain from every battle team set their goal, which was to become the second auxiliary battle team after Gao Jinyun's battle team.

Everyone moved towards the spaceport in droves. Before they reached the entrance of the 23rd Division's warship, they saw the soldiers guarding the spaceport give them strange looks. Ling Lan thought that was it because there were so many people in their group that made the soldiers feel strange. After all, the cadets that were successful in applying to the 23rd Division this time had almost reached 200 people. It was even more than the number of cadets who were joining other divisions combined. A few days ago when Ling Lan's mother contacted her through her father's communicator, she had told her of this situation. She said that the commanders of the other divisions all sent messages to Ling Xiao, mocking and insulting him. They said that her father had used underhanded means to compete with them… Yes, what they considered to be underhanded means was the fact that her father was using his identity as the idol of the people. Using this attraction, he had taken in many prodigies and geniuses. It was indeed a despicable and shameless display…

Ling Lan thought for a second and felt that the words of those division commanders weren't wrong. Her father had actually also used this type of means to take away many geniuses from other military divisions. However, Ling Lan believed that it wasn't completely her father's fault. The real culprit was God. Why couldn't he have made Ling Xiao be born a bit uglier? That would have made things better.

In short, the 23rd Division was very favorable this year and acquired more than half of the geniuses from the First Men's Military Academy. They couldn't blame others for being green with envy.

However, Ling Lan knew that her guess was wrong as she arrived at the 23rd Division's dock, which was entirely filled with people. They were all members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan and their juniors.

After Ling Lan took over the military academy with an iron fist, although some new cadets formed new clans here and there and hoped to recreate Ling Lan's legend as their own, most people still joined Lingtian; especially those from the Central Scout Academy, who all joined. This made the number of members from Lingtian expand and expand again. As the seniors left one year after another, time passed until Ling Lan and the others had become fifth years, at which point Lingtian had finally become a unique super mecha clan of the First Men's Military Academy. There wasn't any mecha clan that could bring about trouble for Lingtian. Trouble only followed Lingtian if they wanted it to.

Ling Lan saw this scene and her expression became livid. Even Qi Long, Luo Lang and the others couldn't help but huff. This time, it was possible that the instructors of the entire military academy were going to become the kings of shouting. It was possible that half of the military academy was completely empty. With this overwhelming scene, it was no wonder that the soldiers guarding the docks would look at them with strange expressions on their faces. Even from how Ling Lan saw it, she almost thought it was a military force attacking the spaceport.

"Boss!" Thousands of individuals shouted in unison. The echoing from their voices almost made Ling Lan's hair strands stand up.

"Who let them call me boss in public?" Ling Lan's had a cold expression on her face as her lips moved slightly to squeeze these words out of her throat. She was joining the military, not entering the mafia.

Everyone around her exchanged looks, pretending they hadn't noticed what their boss had said.

With their behavior being like this, how could Ling Lan not understand? None of them were getting away with it—everyone would get their rightful punishment. It should be known that Ling Lan was always low-key and didn't say anything to the other clan members. If it wasn't for these people beside her giving the orders, she believed that these clan members would definitely not have dared to call her "boss" out in public.

"Just wait. You guys are in big trouble," Ling Lan said begrudgingly. She had wanted to leave quietly and peacefully, but she didn't think that these guys would make it so grand and noisy. Ling Lan already felt that after she entered the division, her life would definitely not be as peaceful as her father wanted.

After hearing their boss' words, Qi Long and the others felt their hearts freeze. They looked at each other and decided to immediately look for a scapegoat. Luo Lang spotted Ling Yi, who was standing at the very front of the crowd, and his eyes instantly gleamed.

He immediately waved to Ling Yi. "Ling Yi, come here."

Ling Yi held in his excitement and walked over. He looked at Ling Lan, who was beside Luo Lang. He was finally standing in front of Young Master Lan. He didn't know whether or not Young Master Lan still remembered him.

Although Ling Yi's performance in the Lingtian Mecha Clan was exceptional, Ling Lan had still not spoken with him face to face because she had given the responsibility of managing Lingtian to Wu Jiong, Qi Long and Li Yingjie. Thus, she never meddled with rankings of members and never had face to face conversations with them neither.

Before Ling Yi could call out to his Young Master Lan, Luo Lang pulled him aside and asked him softly, "Ling Yi, what's happening?"

Ling Yi glanced at Ling Lan, then replied quietly, "Everyone wanted to come send Boss off. This is what everyone wanted. I didn't think it was right to stop them."

After Ling Yi answered, Luo Lang and others looked at Ling Lan, waiting for her reaction. They hoped that their boss could sympathize with everyone's feelings and let them off easy in the end.

Ling Lan sighed internally and suddenly took a step forward. Her clear and cold voice rang through everyone's ears. "Everyone, thank you for coming to send us off. But as cadets of the military academy, you guys have to comply with all the rules of the military academy!"

After saying this, Ling Lan's cold eyes glared at everyone. Everyone at the dock felt that those two eyes were looking at themselves. The blame in Ling Lan's gaze made them hang their head in unplanned unison.

"Attention!" Ling Lan suddenly gave an order and everyone immediately stood up straight.

"To the rear!" Almost all ten thousand people turned around at the same time. The sudden order actually didn't create any chaos. Their movements were surprisingly orderly and stunned all those watching.

"I'll be waiting for you lot in the 23rd Division. Now, forward march!" Ling Lan ordered once again.

Everyone knew that the send-off event had ended. Their boss didn't want them to skip class. However, the boss had also left a message for them, that he would wait for them in the 23rd Division. The boss hadn't abandoned them. Lingtian's members were satisfied. They left the dock in an orderly fashion and quickly disappeared.

Ling Yi didn't want to follow them. Although he obeyed the command to turn around, he still refused to obey the second command in the end and turned around again.

"You still have something you need?" Ling Lan asked indifferently. When it came to Ling Yi, Ling Lan had a feeling of displeasure. Ling Lan remembered clearly that Ling Yi's father, Ling Hua, had died by her hand. Although she had made a series of arrangements and made sure the possibility of exposing the truth behind that incident was zero, Ling Lan still felt that she couldn't get past her own feelings. She couldn't just treat it as if nothing had happened and accept Ling Yi. Thus, in the past two years, she had never given Ling Yi a chance to get close to her.

However, Ling Lan wasn't someone that was completely hardened. When Qi Long, Wu Jiong and the others wanted to use her training method to nurture a group of strong individuals in Lingtian, she heard Ling Yi's name in the list and just let it pass. If Ling Yi really had potential, Ling Lan didn't mind helping him along the way.

"Young Master Lan!" Ling Yi's lips moved a bit and finally shouted out the form of address he wanted to say all this time.

Ling Yi addressing Ling Lan like this stunned Qi Long and the others. Normally, the address of young master was used by family servants. They thought of the Ling Yi's surname "Ling" and instantly understood. It was possible that Ling Yi was a family servant. Some families allowed servants to follow their young masters to apply for the same military academy and become the servant of the next family head. Of course, these family servants had to be capable. Academies such as the First Men's Military Academy were impossible to get in if the individual was not capable.

Everyone quickly returned to having a calm and collected manner because they wanted to know Ling Lan's background. They thought of Ling Xiao and could then understand why Ling Yi would be this strong.

Ling Lan looked at Ling Yi helplessly. She didn't think that Ling Yi still didn't have the thought of giving up on her up until now. Although Chamberlain Ling Qin had once said that Ling Yi's dream was to return to her side and become her loyalist, before even mentioning Ling Yi's special situation and her own situation after her father returned, regardless of whether or not she had publicly announced her gender, she knew it wasn't possible for her to have a male as her loyalist. Even if she approved, her father would definitely not. Ever since the beginning, the female masters of the Ling family could only have female loyalists by their side. There were no exceptions.

Behind Ling Yi were his team members who had stayed behind with Ling Yi. When Rong Ziruo and Yi Tiange heard Ling Yi shout out "Young Master Lan", they subconsciously clenched their fists and their eyes focused on Ling Lan.

After Ling Yi's outburst, it was as though his entire body had relaxed. No matter if his Young Master Lan wanted to accept him or not, he had already shown her his thoughts. He smiled bitterly and said, "Perhaps, Young Master Lan has already forgotten who I am. Looking back, it's been around 15 years since we last saw each other."

Ling Lan replied indifferently, "I know. Back then, I approved of your father's wish before he died to make you return to being a commoner. That way, you wouldn't have any connections to the Ling family anymore."

Hearing this, Ling Yi instantly said with concern, "You guys didn't even ask me whether I wanted to or not? Even if I was young, I still had my right to choose."

Ling Lan saw the determination in Ling Yi's eyes. She thought for a moment then said, "Alright. In that case, I'll give you the chance to choose."

Ling Yi's eyes widened and he laughed out loud. "Thank you, Young Master Lan." He had known that Young Master Lan wouldn't abandon him just like that.

"In your fifth year, if you want to follow me, then come to the 23rd Division." Ling Lan left these words and then walked past Ling Yi towards the warship's personnel hold.

Chapter 561 - Help!

Ling Yi was full of satisfaction as he watched Ling Lan leave. With the Young Master Lan's promise, he felt that the hard work he had done for 15 years had finally paid off.

"Congratulations, Captain!" Yi Tiange was relieved, and still had a smile on his face. He lightly patted Ling Yi on the shoulder to show he was congratulating Ling Yi.

"Captain, your dream came true," Rong Ziruo also remarked. At the same time, he turned around and looked towards the silhouette of that individual who was surrounded by their seniors. That tall standing figure made him look with all the hesitation in his eyes.

Ling Lan's aura was too cold and dominant. Someone like her would either successfully create their world or fall short at the half-way point—there was no third possibility. Was it a good thing or bad thing that their captain was going to follow this person?

The five of them, including Rong Ziruo, were all third-rate planet commoners. They had lacked medicinal agents, money, and opportunities to train their physical skills when they were young. It was because of Ling Yi that they were able to get into the First Men's Military Academy. It was Ling Yi who had taught them the Ling family's basic physical skills. It was Ling Yi who used his father's pension to buy them food, sparing them from having to worry about the nutrients they needed replenish when training their physical skills. That was why they put all of their trust in Ling Yi. Even if he wanted to return to the Ling family and become a loyalist, they would not part ways but follow him instead. They had even once thought that if Ling Yi was to return to the Ling family, they would be willing to become a family servant if the Ling family needed them.

The choices of Rong Ziruo and the others were sacrificial. If they parted with Ling Yi, their future would become better. With their capabilities, they would definitely become at least a low ranking officer after they entered a division. They would also have freedom and be better off than becoming a family servant of a small household (Ling Yi still hadn't told them the real background of the Ling family).

In the 23rd Division's warship's bridge, three people were curiously walking around the optical supercomputer that was showing the image of the dock. After picking up so many new recruits, this was the first time that they had seen such a large crowd that was sending people off. They saw Ling Lan order the crowd to return, saw her lead more than 100 people to board the warship…

"Amazing, isn't it?" The dashing officer that was sitting on the main command seat smirked. He was the captain of this warship. His name was Lei Yiming.

"Brother Ming, don't tell me that you brought us to the First Men's Military Academy every year because of this person?" The first to speak was the officer with a somewhat feminine complexion, sitting to the left of the dashing officer. He half-smiled and glanced at Lei Yiming. Being very knowledgeable about Lei Yiming, this officer was almost certain that Ling Lan was the real purpose of this trip.

"Yes, Jun'an." Lei Yiming didn't quibble and admitted to it with a smile. "Three years ago, I was sent here to pick up cadets. By accident, I saw this person break through, but even with my capabilities, I couldn't see his through limit… In addition, hundreds of people instantly protected him in unison when he broke through. It showed that he had a place in the First Men's Military Academy." It turned out that he was the warship commander who had come to pick up Li Lanfeng and the others, and apparently saw Ling Lan break through.

The feminine officer was called Pan Jun'an and was Lei Yiming's vice-staff officer whom he relied on very much. Lei Yiming words made Pan Jun'an laugh immediately. "Who knew that the mission that you hated with a passion actually let you meet with such an interesting person. No wonder these past two years, you would nominate yourself to the staff officer department to come pick people up."

Lei Yiming nodded. "Of course. When it comes to someone that's this interesting and strong, I must naturally try my best to get them to come to our Jun Ying team. If I don't do that, I have to at least make sure that Pu Jun doesn't rope him into their team."

The 23rd Division was a newly formed military division. When they were building the division, all the different powers had sent people in. However, after General Ling Xiao's iron fist rectifications, the 23rd Division became purer. Although the roots of the different powers were there no more, the officers of the 23rd Division still created their own little groups. For example, Lei Yiming and his group were the Jun Ying Friendship Association. In order to expand their power and influence, they would try to rope in the limitless supply of new recruits from military academies who just joined the division. Even if they didn't rope them in, they would create good relationships with them. They would try to stop the new recruits from deviating towards their opponents, such as the one they had the most competition with, the Pu Jun Alliance Group.

"Only three years has passed and now he has thousands of people sending him off. This person should be considered an overlord at the First Men's Military Academy," remarked another officer, as if in deep thought. This officer was the commander of Lei Yiming's warship security mecha clan, ace operator Meng Ziyun. He was the strongest on the warship, Stargazer.

Lei Yiming, Pan Jun'an and Meng Ziyun were also close friends who grew up together. The bond between them was very strong. In the 23rd Division, they were nicknamed the Stargazer's three musketeers because the warship they served on was called Stargazer.

"However, it's hard to rope in those who came out from the First Men's Military Academy." Pan Jun'an recalled the groups from the previous years and instantly frowned.

"Yeah. Huo Zhenyu and Zhao Jun's groups haven't joined any group even until now." Meng Ziyun didn't truly think that Lei Yiming's decision was a good one.

"I know, that's why those guys from Pu Jun were willing to go to other military academies, but unwilling to come to the First Men's Military Academy. How else could we have always gotten the chance to come here to pick people up so easily?" Lei Yiming said mockingly. "However, I never even considered that he would join us. I just want to form a good relationship with him."

Lei Yiming words stunned his two comrades. After watching for three years, he had finally found his target, yet after putting in so much effort, he only wanted to just form a good relationship in the end… When had Lei Yiming become this less demanding?

Lei Yiming saw that the eyes of his two close friends seemed on the verge of popping out of their sockets and he immediately laughed, saying, "Hahaha, look at your dumb faces… How could I not have knowledge of something that Pu Jun already knew about?"

He retracted his smile and huffed coldly before continuing, "It's clear that those from the First Men's Military Academy will create their group in 23rd Division. We don't know what Huo Zhenyu is thinking because he's not in headquarters, but Zhao Jun's group is probably waiting for him." Lei Yiming then pointed at the cool young man who had already boarded their warship.

Lei Yiming's words allowed Pan Jun'an to understand. "I see…"

Meng Ziyun, however, still didn't understand. "What are you guys talking about? Can you not make it so deep and hard to understand?" Were they discriminating against soldiers like him and inferring that they were retarded? Sh*t!

Pan Jun'an quickly comforted him and smiled. He explained, "Ziyun, did you forget that a while back, there was a public announcement made by Zhao Jun that the entire division witnessed?"

As an ace operator, after two years of training, Zhao Jun had already made his first appearance in the division. He defeated many ace operators that had already made names for themselves for a long time. The strong Zhao Jun became the dream individual for becoming every battle team's main general and countless battle teams sent him invitations. Even the 23rd Division's young general's imperial battle team also sent him an invitation. This made everyone else become green with envy.

Faced with the temptation of being able to instantly rank up, Zhao Jun kept a straight face and refused the offer. He already had a battle team and would no longer change his allegiance… It was just that having never activated a battle team totem, everyone thought his words were just excuses and no one thought more of it.

Meng Ziyun didn't understand at first and his expression showed a hint of confusion, but then he quickly came to a realization and looked at the young man in the image with a stunned expression. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Could it be that he's Zhao Jun's captain?"

"Three years ago, he was the one who sent Zhao Jun off." Lei Yiming told them the truth.

Meng Ziyun looked at the cool young man in the image with a complicated gaze. "He really is lucky to actually have such a strong member. This member is also completely loyal to him." Which battle team wouldn't want a genius like Zhao Jun? Even Meng Ziyun and the others wanted to take him in. Additionally, there was a super skilled military doctor and a sinister strategist behind Zhao Jun.

After remembering these two people, Meng Ziyun exclaimed, "Don't tell me, the other two are both from this battle team?"

Li Shiyu was definitely a one in a million doctor in the past few centuries. The horrible effects of the medicinal agents that he had invented terrified people, but their taste made everyone remember taking them as if it was yesterday and not dare to forget in their lifetime.

Meng Ziyun recalled an incident from last year, when he had been heavily wounded. Right when he returned to the 23rd Division's headquarters, he was sent to the division's hospital…

"What? I have to rest for a month? Sh*t. Which quack doctor set up my treatment plan? Get the f*ck over here." Meng Ziyun, who was laying in the treatment pod, heard Pan Jun'an tell him about his wounds and instantly became angry, because after one more week, they had to go to another dangerously chaotic planet for a mission. If the Stargazer didn't have him, a main player, how could they make a full retreat from that dangerous planet? Of course Meng Ziyun would get annoyed.

The military doctor that was standing on the side wiped his cold sweat, as the treatment plan was written by him. There were clearly no mistakes, but as luck would have it, Meng Ziyun was well-known to have the worst temper within the 23rd Division. When he was being stubborn, logic wasn't something he believed in. His personality really wasted the name he was given.

Pan Jun'an also knew of Meng Ziyun's terrible temper. He couldn't help but glare at him and say, "Why are you getting worked up? If you don't believe it, then go find another physician to take a look." Afterward, he looked at the physician beside him and apologetically asked, "Dr. Qiu, could you please let another physician come to take a look?"

Dr. Qiu immediately nodded. "Alright, I'll get our head physician to come take a look." Afterward, he walked out without turning back. F*ck, he actually didn't believe him. In that case, he was just going to find the head physician. In reality, if it wasn't for the head physician ordering him, he wouldn't have wanted to come treat this dumbass.

Dr. Qiu left in a huff, found the head physician and told him about Meng Ziyun's situation. The head physician instantly felt he had a headache. Even before the 23rd Division had been formed for four years, this Meng Ziyun had already offended all the physicians in the division's hospital. Now, no one was willing to treat him. It couldn't be helped and so he had to go do it himself. He carefully checked around and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Meng, your wounds indeed need one month's worth of rest. Otherwise, old wounds won't heal and new wounds will appear. If we treat you then, there would be lasting side-effects."

The faculty head's judgment surprised Meng Ziyun. Could it really mean that he couldn't go on this mission?

Seeing this, Pan Jun'an comforted him and said, "Ziyun, you stay and rest up. Yiming and I will be careful. In fact, Yiming and my capabilities aren't too bad. It was just because of you that we were left in the dust. Now, we finally have a chance to shine."

As he was pressed for time, Pan Jun'an quickly left the division's hospital and returned to the warship to prepare the supplies and equipment for the journey. On the side, Meng Ziyun became more and more worried, thus he began to make a scene in the hospital…

"Bam!" The lunch that was brought in by a military nurse was flipped over by Meng Ziyun. He angrily exclaimed, "What is this sh*t? This is how your hospital gives treatment to your patients?"

The military nurse was a new recruit who had just joined the division. Being only 18, she had never been through this before and instantly began to cry.

"Cry, cry, cry. I'm not dead yet. Why the f*ck are you crying? Get your head nurse over here." Meng Ziyun yelled upon seeing the nurse crying, which made him become even angrier.

The military nurse listened to him and quickly ran out of the room covering her face. She ran to the head nurse and, while sobbing with tears and snot flying everywhere, stumbled over her words as she relayed the situation to the head nurse.

The head nurse bit her lip and walked into Meng Ziyun's ward, but not long after, she was sent out of the room by the man's insults.

"Elder Sister Xu, what should we do now?" The nurse immediately panicked when she saw the head nurse couldn't resolve the situation. She never wanted to see that unreasonable person again…

"That bastard. I will definitely find a way…" Elder Sister Xu said begrudgingly.

Li Shiyu's mood was very good on that day because he had invented a rapid regeneration medicinal agent. Naturally, as he had yet to confirm its effects, it was only just a theoretical success. The reason he had come to the division hospital on this day was to see the president of the hospital to help him find a few heavily wounded soldiers to perform some human experimentation…

He ran over to the president's office, but was told that the president had gone to make a round of the wards; thus, he chased after him. Right when he entered a ward, he saw the familiar head nurse speaking with another nurse.

"Elder Sister Xu, good afternoon." Li Shiyu greeted her with his usual warm smile.

Right as Li Shiyu moved past her, he felt a strong force pulling him back and he turned around in surprise. He saw the head nurse wearing an obsequious expression as she said, "Little Brother Shiyu, you have to help your Elder Sister Xu today."

Hmm? Where was Elder Sister Xu's elder sister personality? How come her mood was so low today? Li Shiyu felt a chill strike him and his body immediately shuddered. "Elder Sister Xu, please speak normally. Your current expression is terrifying me." There was definitely something wrong because she seemed so odd.

"Stupid punk, are you going to help or not?" Elder Sister Xu immediately showed her true colors and immediately threatened him.

"I'll help, of course I'll help, but what actually happened? Elder Sister Xu, you have explain it clearly." Li Shiyu smiled bitterly as he spoke.

Elder Sister Xu immediately told Li Shiyu about Meng Ziyun, after which she angrily said, "Although he's a lieutenant colonel, he still shouldn't be so unreasonable. We're only corporals, but we still shouldn't just take things lying down and do nothing about it."

"So?" Li Shiyu asked confusedly.

"So, Little Brother Shiyu, please teach him a lesson." Elder Sister Xu's expression was stern, but her eyes were filled with anticipation.

After hearing Elder Sister Xu's words, the terrified nurse who stood on the side immediately clenched her fists before her chest after she finished wiping her tears and looked at Li Shiyu with anticipation in her eyes. The look in her gaze seemed as if completely seeing Li Shiyu as a savior, which made Li Shiyu's forehead scrunch up.

"He's a lieutenant colonel," Li Shiyu said, then pointed at his own shoulder medal and continued, "I am only a major right now." What he meant was that Meng Ziyun outranked him. How did he have the power to help them teach Meng Ziyun a lesson?

After working hard for one year, Li Shiyu had already advanced from the rank of senior captain to the rank of major. Zhao Jun had also advanced to major. As for Li Lanfeng, he had advanced the fastest; he had successfully become promoted from second lieutenant to senior captain. It was possible that before long, he would be able to advance to major.

Elder Sister Xu looked around and after seeing that no one had noticed them, she quietly said, "Little Brother Shiyu, don't lie to me. I know your methods. As long as you convince the president and that person in there becomes your specimen for experimentation…" Elder Sister Xu's hand clenched with great force and her eyes showed a bit of killing intent as she continued, "how is he to escape your clutches?"

Elder Sister Xu's evilness made Li Shiyu feel cold. As expected, you could offend anyone, but just not women…