126 - 132

Chapter 126 - A Strange Sense of Rapport!

Just as Lu Xiaolong was beating himself up mentally, a cool voice suddenly rang out by his ear, "The basics are very important. We haven't mastered them fully yet, which is why we cannot graduate and leave."

Lu Xiaolong jerked his head up and saw that it was the cheetah mecha who had replied. Gratefulness surged in his heart — so not all gods were cold and aloof; this cheetah mecha operator was obviously a friendly person.

In reality, Lu Xiaolong was completely wrong. The cheetah mecha hadn't planned to answer Lu Xiaolong's question to begin with, but because the rabbit mecha had signalled him to do so with that glance and bob of its head, the cheetah mecha had no choice but to reply.

After several consecutive months of hanging out together, even though they hardly spoke to one another, a strange sense of rapport had been born between them. With just a look or a small motion, they could just tell what the other meant. Thus, the rabbit mecha's previous glance and head bob had let the cheetah mecha operator understand completely what the other was asking.

"But ... you are both already so strong. How could it be that you've still not mastered basic control?" Lu Xiaolong just couldn't understand. If these results wasn't proof that they had mastered the basics, then did it mean that those of them who had graduated by just achieving the passing line were basically unfit to operate mecha?

"Are we strong? Aren't there about 100 other stronger people in front of us?" The cheetah mecha operator's voice had a trace of self-mocking, as if unsatisfied with their current results.

This statement by the cheetah mecha operator made the rabbit mecha turn to glance at him once more. Its gaze was clearly questioning — when had they become a group?

This made the cheetah mecha operator snicker a little internally. It really was rather unbelievable — the two of them had only had one actual conversation. Their subsequent meetings had been coincidental when they happened to meet up in the training room. They really weren't that close, but there was just this indescribable rapport between the two of them.

Of course, part of this serendipity was due to his own initiative. Ever since their only conversation, he had always used his spiritual strength to locate the other's position, and then pretended to have entered the same room to train by coincidence.

However, he truly was fated to meet up with the other. Many times, the rabbit mecha arrived after him, but still somehow found its way into the training room he was in. (At this moment, Little Four was laughing gleefully up at the heavens: What? You think the magistrates are the only ones allowed to burn down houses, while the common people are forbidden even to light lamps? 1 Who can beat me, Little Four, in this virtual realm?)

Perhaps the heavens were being kind to him, the gods and spirits giving a peerless prodigy like him their blessing in the form of this assistance from an unexpected quarter.

He hadn't dismissed Ling Lan's words, which was why he changed his original plan to graduate and leave, choosing to remain here in the mecha training hall to hone his basic mecha control instead. On top of that, he also put in more effort into training up the scout academy basics physical skills. He figured that since it was also a foundational skill set, basic physical skills should be similarly important.

Reality proved that his assumptions were not wrong. In the end, he could thoroughly sense the benefits honing his foundations had brought to him. In the real world, his initially weak and sickly body was slowly recovering, while in the virtual world, his mecha control had broken through several limits, causing his results to improve in leaps and bounds.

As intelligent as he was, he had long figured out that the rabbit mecha had intentionally revealed those things to him in their only conversation. Perhaps the both of them being mecha prodigies in their own right had sparked some mutual care, so the other had been willing to reveal some of his own secrets of mecha control to him. This secret was very likely an exclusive secret belonging to the other's sect. Otherwise, out of the many mecha operators out there, why were there so few who viewed basic control with such importance? Thus, he would carve this great kindness into his heart.

Of course, he had no way to repay this kindness just yet — in fact, he didn't even dare to reveal his true identity to the other right now. Before he was fully in control of his own destiny, he needed to keep a low profile, otherwise it would be spitting on all that his grandfather had done for him.

He knew very well that, due to that reading of his Four Pillars of Destiny 1 , his grandfather had hidden all information on his true potential, purposefully announcing his mediocrity instead. In the end, his grandfather had even used the excuse of his potential being too average to exile him to the distant planet Azure. All of this was to protect him, to keep him out of the crosshairs of the rich and powerful elite.

But he was still indignant about it. He wasn't willing to just choose to escape passively — he wanted to become strong, and then stand at the pinnacle of this world, able to laugh at all the buffeting storms and winds. Yes, he wanted to master his own destiny — he wanted to change that prophesized destined finale!

The cheetah mecha was involuntarily drawn into his own thoughts. Meanwhile, due to the other's words, Lu Xiaolong had lost all of his initial urgency to leave the training hall. He believed that if the god had said so and was doing so, then it must really mean that the basics were very important. Without even having to think about it, he hurriedly sent a message to his two good friends taking the assessment. He told them not to graduate just yet, but to come back and train up their basic control more.

After a few minutes, his good friends responded. His good intentions naturally weren't able to convince these two 'good friends' who had already decided to abandon him. Their messages even suggested in a roundabout way that he was only doing this because he couldn't bear to see them leave, and was resorting to this sort of desperate measures.

Lu Xiaolong may be a bit slow when it came to learning, but he wasn't an idiot; of course he understood the hidden meaning in their messages. Lu Xiaolong was extremely hurt. He really wished he could explain to his good friends, even hoping that they would be able to watch the assessments of the two gods ... but he found that the two of them had shut off their communicators simultaneously, automatically rejecting all of his contact requests.

He went through his contact list, trying to pass on a message through some of their mutual friends, but the response he received again and again was not to disturb them — now that they were in the real mecha world, they weren't as free as when they were in the mecha training hall; they were really very very busy ...

By this time, Lu Xiaolong had already sensed something was off, but he did not want to think too much about it, unwilling to doubt his good friends. Before him were two options — one was to stop worrying about the others and focus on his own basic training until he was satisfied; the other was to quickly pass the assessment, paying no mind to how badly he did, so that he could be reunited with his friends as soon as possible.

He glanced at the two gods resting at the side after their practice, and after some thought, decided that he should try asking the cheetah mecha about this. Perhaps the god would be able to give him a good idea.

The cheetah mecha operator saw the rhinoceros mecha approaching him once again, and couldn't help but frown. Honestly, he didn't really like interacting with strangers — this was primarily due to his cloistered life thus far in his manor.

Subconsciously, he looked towards the rabbit mecha. The rabbit mecha's eyes suddenly blinked at him, as if telling him to be nice.

The cheetah mecha operator smiled wryly. Alright, since the rabbit mecha operator wanted him to be nice, then he would be nice. He just wasn't able to refuse someone who had helped him.

********

"Little Four, isn't challenging the other's tolerance this way a bit overboard?" Ling Lan was now rather worried that if the operator of the rhinoceros mecha really infuriated the cheetah mecha, he might be murdered right off by the other.

"Don't worry. I've already made arrangements. The rhinoceros won't die," replied Little Four. "If I hadn't worked things out yet, I wouldn't have let him get so close to you. After all, he's an evolved spectre!" Otherwise, if by any chance he was out and about away from his boss, and his boss bumped into the other, wouldn't that be too dangerous?

"That said, from the looks of it, his temperament is not bad. Not at all as dangerous as we thought." Little Four was very satisfied with the other's behaviour thus far. This way, he can leave Boss to him without any worry.

Little Four suddenly felt that something wasn't right — what did he just think about leaving Boss to him ... Oh fie fie fie, he must take that back! Anyone who dares to covet his boss must die! Death to all of them! Little Four began sharpening his knife, his little eyes glaring with suspicion and animosity at the cheetah mecha operator.

Of course, this behaviour of Little Four's was immediately stopped by Ling Lan. Ling Lan was extremely speechless — what nonsense was this brat thinking of this time? Ling Lan suddenly found that having a shared mind may not always be a good thing.

********

Lu Xiaolong told everything to the cheetah mecha operator in order, and Ling Lan and the cheetah mecha operator immediately knew what was up. Both of them were good at reading people, so they knew without a doubt that the poor Lu Xiaolong had been heartlessly cast aside by the two people he considered his good friends.

Ling Lan cast a sympathetic glance at Lu Xiaolong, but believed that this was actually a good thing. At least now he wouldn't be used up by his friends before being cast aside. In that sense, this was much better.

The cheetah mecha operator also thought the same — the two of them once again shared a look through their mecha, feeling as if they could clearly sense the other's thoughts. Once again, they marvelled at the miraculous rapport between the both of them; there were just no words to describe it.

Of course, the two of them weren't about to blurt out the answer directly. They were just passing acquaintances with Lu Xiaolong; they weren't close enough to be that blunt.

The cheetah mecha operator thought for a moment before saying, "I recommend you focus on training up your basic control. Although the time taken will be longer, this way will obviously be more useful to your friends. I'm sure you don't want to become a burden to them, right?" Perhaps time will let the other figure things out for himself.

Lu Xiaolong nodded energetically. What the god was saying was undoubtedly what worried him the most.

"If you don't have enough talent, then you'll just have to make up for it with hard work. So, don't think about simply passing. Make sure you master your basic control, otherwise you'll really become a burden to your good friends." Of course, the good friends he was talking about referred to true friends, and not those who had abandoned Lu Xiaolong.

The cheetah mecha operator's words enlightened Lu Xiaolong. That's true, even if he forced a pass and went over now, he still wouldn't be much help to his friends. He might as well stay here and put in more practice to improve his basic control, and only move on when he truly had the ability to help them.

Decided, Lu Xiaolong bid farewell to the two gods. Of course, before he left, he tried to ask for a way to contact the two of them, but was unfortunately turned down by the cheetah mecha operator. Lu Xiaolong did not dare to cling — he knew that it was already a great blessing to have received some guidance from a god just once. If he were greedy and tried to ask for more, that would be too shameless. However, he still told them his name, his parting words and tone filled with the hope that they might meet up again someday. Hopefully at that time, the gods would still remember him.

Seeing the other leave reluctantly, Ling Lan couldn't hold back a sigh. "Who knew you were so good with words?"

"Is that so? Looks like I have talent in this area." Hearing the other's praise, the cheetah mecha operator's mood improved immensely, and he began joking back.

"Yes! You should really develop your skills in this area. You shouldn't waste your talent." Ling Lan could hear the other's humour, and so she replied in kind with a laugh. Ling Lan had no way to know that because of this one statement, the other would truly change how he interacted with others. When the two of them met up again in the future, she wouldn't imagine the person she met then would be the same person as this cheetah mecha operator she knew now.

1. Basically --- you think your great bad spectre self is the only one who can search out people in the virtual world?

2. A Chinese conceptual term describing the four components that supposedly determine a person's destiny or fate. The four components within the moment of birth are year, month, day, and hour. The literal transliteration of the Chinese term may be more familiar to some of you: 'Bazi'.

Chapter 127 - Preset Control Mode!

"Hmm, since you've said so, I'll have to work on it then." The cheetah mecha operator's reply was very serious, but Ling Lan did not notice, still thinking that the other was joking.

There was a slight pause, and then the cheetah mecha operator said in awe, "Your speed this time is faster than mine. Recently, I've gotten stuck in a bottleneck. I keep getting stalled at this time with no way to progress further. My hand speed has already hit a limit, maybe this is the most I can do." The cheetah mecha operator's voice was somewhat sad; perhaps the time to leave had come.

"Then just train your hand speed!" Ling Lan blurted. After several months of hanging out together with their mutual understanding, Ling Lan was also extremely reluctant to see the other leave. However, her words had barely faded when her guard went up. When did she lose all her defences against the other?

"Train my hand speed? How do I do that?" exclaimed the cheetah mecha operator in response, just as shocked by Ling Lan's words.

However, he very quickly realised what he had done — his question had most likely stepped into the territory of the other's inherited secrets. How could he covet the other's training secrets? "I'm sorry. I overstepped."

"It's fine ..." Ling Lan frowned silently. She actually felt somewhat bad, as if not telling him was a sin. What in the world was happening? If Ling Lan's mind weren't so steady, she might have already blurted out the training method without even knowing it.

"Little Four, can you sense anything off?" In her mind, Ling Lan quickly called Little Four to the rescue.

"Nope ... everything's perfectly normal! Eh? What's this? What a strange mental fluctuation ..." exclaimed Little Four in shock. "Actually matching up with the frequency of Boss's real brainwaves ... hold on, let me check my databases to see what this means."

"Is it harmful?" Ling Lan asked anxiously. She could not afford to take any chances — the other was a very dangerous evolved spectre, you know.

Little Four had already pulled up the data by this point, and with some schadenfreude he said, "Oh, it's nothing much. It will just magnify a certain positive substance 1 infinitely. For example, if you think he's not bad, then under the influence of this fluctuation, you will think he's really nice. If you think well of him, then this feeling will directly extend to the point of considering him a close friend. If you have any bit of affection for him … hehe, Boss, then you're done for. You'll immediately be at the step of loving him so much that you'd be willing to die for him."

Little Four's words made Ling Lan roll her eyes at him. Was she someone that thirsty, that desperate? Was she really surging with so much lustful desire?

"Also, this ability can reduce the existence of a certain negative substance. For example, it can decrease an enemy's animosity, correct other's negative opinions of him etcetera ... in short, everyone who sees him will like him!"

"He's doing it on purpose?" Ling Lan's face was tiger-fierce. If the other had used this ability on purpose, she would definitely put him on her blacklist. Although she had a good impression of him, who knew if this was all just the product of this ability?

"No, this is an ability he was born with. He doesn't know how to use it consciously." Little Four rubbed his chin and cackled, "Hehehe ... because he likes you so much, and hopes you will like him in return, that's why this ability activated now. Let me put it this way. This ability can only appear when he himself truly wants to treat the other well. So, congratulations Boss, you are part of the group of people whom he really likes and wants to treat well."

At this, Ling Lan relaxed. Little Four could even see the minor curve of a small smile on her lips — it looks like his boss was greatly gladdened by this. Little Four felt nostalgic — ever since Boss had begun developing in the direction of becoming a slackface, he had rarely ever seen Boss smile anymore. He really missed it so much. Boss's smile at the start had been so beautiful — though it might not have been able to topple countries, it was certainly more than lovely enough to topple cities.

As he continued to think about it, Little Four began to resent those instructors in the learning space. Why was it set up so that all the smiling teachers were those with black innards and perverse attitudes?! While the strict and proper ones just had to have ice-blocks for faces? Totally skewing the perspective of his boss ... it should be known that Boss truly loathed that forever outwardly smiling, but internally extremely perverse Instructor Number Five.

Little Four's words naturally made Ling Lan very happy — it had already been several months since she had told the cheetah mecha operator about the importance of the basics. After spending so much time together, she would have cultivated some emotions even if the other was a rock, not to mention that they were both living breathing human beings. Unknowingly, the cheetah mecha operator wasn't the only one who had come to consider Ling Lan as a friend; Ling Lan herself had come to see the other as a dependable friend.

Setting that aside, during this time, Ling Lan had also overcome many difficulties within the learning space's mission.

Because Ling Lan had broken through her bottleneck, there was a resulting breakthrough in her hand speed once again. This made Ling Lan's passing time improve tremendously, clocking in at slightly less than 3 minutes 10 seconds. This was just less than 10 seconds away from the mission's passing condition of 3 minutes.

Subsequently, Ling Lan attempted the tunnel mission again and again, each time fixing the control errors she made in her previous run. As Ling Lan's mistakes dwindled, her time needed for the course also got closer and closer to 3 minutes. However, when she hit the 3 minute 3 second mark, Ling Lan once again hit a wall. After several consecutive practices, she found that she couldn't progress any bit further.

Ling Lan did not panic. Even though her time was so close to the designated time limit of the mission, she knew very well that rushing would not solve anything. Only keeping calm would help her find a way to overcome this in the end.

Ling Lan started to think back on the movements of the cheetah mecha — back then, the cheetah mecha's movements had been extremely fluid, and his speed had been very fast as well; however, his running and jumping rhythm had not been as intense as his speed would suggest. Instead of more frequent bounds, it was more like each bounding motion had used up the mecha's limits — in other words, he had pulled out every bit of the mecha's latent reserves.

Even more astounding was the fact that he had used the reaction force of every landing to maintain and add on to his velocity, pushing it to the extreme. This had allowed the cheetah mecha's speed to go beyond the limits the operator had given it, letting it access speed beyond the abilities of the operator.

Meanwhile, she herself had similarly managed to push her rabbit mecha's speed to the limit, but could she also use the reaction force from this type of repetitive landing to increase her speed?

Ling Lan knew the Rabbit Sky Leap was the best stepping reaction force technique — she just wasn't sure how long the rabbit mecha in the learning space could hold out under the technique.

Ling Lan experimented a few times and finally grasped the timing. She could only use it during the second half of the course, and it had to be after the two-thirds point — otherwise, if she used it too early, the mecha would disintegrate before she could pass the mission.

Still, the advantage of the learning space was once again displayed. That is, mecha were indestructible inside it — after disintegrating, when she once again went back to the start, the mecha's condition would be back at 100%.

It wasn't free however. Ling Lan was naturally pained when she found that her honour points had been ruthlessly deducted by a whole 10 points — this was equal to the amount which she had used to redeem the Rabbit Sky Leap skill!

Under this repetitive testing, Ling Lan had used up almost 80 honour points before she finally pinned down the timing needed to use the Rabbit Sky Leap in the mission. Even if the mecha did not disintegrate, smaller repairs still required honour points; it was just slightly cheaper.

And then, in the final moments left, by luck, Ling Lan finally managed to break through the 3-minute limit, clocking in at 2 minutes 59 seconds. The cost was rather steep — this time, due to overwhelming speed, the rabbit mecha had almost disintegrated entirely. Luckily, she had managed to complete the mission before it could fully disintegrate.

However, the learning space did not give Ling Lan any time to take pride in her achievement. At this moment, Instructor Number Three pranced onto the scene. He seated Ling Lan in the auxiliary seat, and then operated the rabbit mecha himself to run through the mission course once.

Ling Lan could see very well that Instructor Number Three's hand speed wasn't that fast; she could see every movement of his hands clearly. However, it was precisely this kind of control method that made the rabbit mecha move through the tunnel as if it were dancing. At times, it even left trails of light behind it, flashing through the tunnel like a bolt of lightning.

As Instructor Number Three controlled the mecha, he explained the reasoning for this type of control method to Ling Lan. Ling Lan compared it against her own control method and recognised her deficiencies. Right then, she finally understood why the instructor hadn't taught her how to control the mecha at the beginning, instead leaving her to figure things out for herself. It was because some elements of mecha control needed to be personally experienced before one could understand why it had to be done a certain way — only by doing so could one understand what was wrong. Most importantly, everyone had their own control habits, and the best control method was the one which suited oneself.

The whole way through, Ling Lan gained new insight on controls, while Instructor Number Three breezed through the course, finishing it in 2 minutes and 11 seconds on the dot.

Regarding this, Ling Lan was very curious. How did Instructor Number Three manage to achieve such a terrifying completion speed when his hand speed had been slower than hers? Of course, when Ling Lan asked this question, Instructor Number Three just asked her in return: Was his hand speed really slower than hers?

Ling Lan looked in astonishment at the reading from the hand speed monitor that the mecha's A.I. had gathered, finding that Instructor Number Three's hand speed had actually been the same as hers. But why did it look like his hand speed was slower then? She had not even noticed the appearance of any afterimages — Ling Lan knew that when her hand speed reached a certain level, this phenomenon would appear.

"You focused all your speed on a particular time period. Not only does this tire out your hands and mind, but even the mecha itself would also be extremely worn out," said Instructor Number Three, patting the body of the rabbit mecha, gaze affectionate. It was as if the mecha before his eyes was not a mecha, but a living thing which needed to be protected and cared for, and not controlled barbarically.

Ling Lan was surprised by the instructor's actions, but at this moment, she still could not comprehend this mental state of a mecha operator. She could only think back on the speed the instructor had used when controlling the mecha, and found that he had maintained an even speed throughout the course — this was rather strange. Mind you, within the tunnel, every scene was different, and there were even some unpredictable scenarios — how in the world had Instructor Number Three managed that?

"Among the control commands of the mecha, there is something called preset control mode. You should use it appropriately." Instructor Number Three's words enlightened Ling Lan. She knew very well what preset control mode was — the resting motion of her mecha was a type of preset control. It's just that that motion was a fixed preset control; she just had to program the motion into the mecha beforehand, and then use the specially trained buttons to execute it ...

2. Yes, the original is this vague about it. <.<

Chapter 128 - Rabbit-Cheetah Duo!

Ling Lan did not have to question Number Three any further on how to input these preset control commands. This was because Ling Lan already knew that, other than the fixed preset control mode, there was also an instantaneous preset control mode. The latter mode would accept extremely brief input, and would only be effective for one usage.

This was a type of control method which was extremely well-suited for emergency battle. However, many people had forgotten that mecha came with this function, because this instantaneous preset control mode required a lot from the operator. Many people did not possess the ability to handle this type of control method, so most mecha operators still found it easier to just depend on their own adaptive ability and control the mecha directly.

Instantaneous preset control mode needed the mecha operator using it to have a certain level of predictive ability — the so-called awakened 'sixth sense' of this world. Meanwhile, in the learning space, this ability was named 'Animal Instinct', and was a lower-average standard innate perception ability.

In fact, Ling Lan's innate talent of Profound Insight was the best among the other innate talents in the same category. As such, the instantaneous preset control mode was extremely appropriate for Ling Lan — this was why Instructor Number Three had made it a point to bring it up.

During this time, Little Four had gradually siphoned in data he had collected from the real world into the learning space, giving the instructors within it a general understanding of the technological environment Ling Lan was living in. Thus, they knew that this world was extremely behind with regards to awakened perception abilities at the moment, and even in terms of mecha control, this world was N-levels worse than that of their own world.

So, the instantaneous preset control mode, which was familiar to all the residents of the learning space, was rather neglected in this world. Here, with the exception of those who had awakened the sixth sense, other common mecha operators would be utterly clueless about this function on their mecha, and even many instructors of mecha control may not remember the existence of this function. This was another reason why Instructor Number Three had stepped up to demonstrate mecha control in person.

Ling Lan understood what Instructor Number Three intended with his guidance. In contrast with the instructor's control, she could clearly see that she was still lacking in many areas, whether it be awareness, control, or prediction. Ling Lan knew this was all because her basics were still below standard, so she didn't choose to learn a new control method, merely continuing to train her basic control. The only exception was that she began including the usage of instantaneous preset control mode in her training. Of course, this was extremely difficult. Many times, Ling Lan's attempts ended in failure, but Ling Lan still continued tirelessly in her attempts to learn it.

In this manner, several months passed. Ling Lan's life fell into a regulated routine — at dawn and at dusk, she set aside two blocks of time to train her basic physical skills; whether it was the scout academy's or the one taught by the learning space, she wouldn't allow them to fall behind. At the same time, she also didn't forget to train her hand speed. By this time, she had already broken through the limit of three marbles 1 , and was now able to train with four marbles at a time.

However, just like when she had been training with three marbles, she could not sustain the activity for long. Still, Ling Lan wasn't anxious — she remained patient and practised every day, improving bit by bit. It was a victory as long as she could sustain activity for just a little bit longer than the day before.

Meanwhile, during the day, she would attend classes at the academy if there were classes, and if there weren't, she would enter the virtual world to practise her mecha control there. Of course, Ling Lan would habitually check to see if that cheetah mecha was at the mecha training hall. Anyone would have a lasting impression of the first stranger they met in the virtual world who also helped them out.

Of course, there was another reason Ling Lan was looking for the other — every time she saw the other's training movements, she would somehow gain some measure of insight from it. In return, the other seemed to be of a similar mindset; and so, the two of them often ended up training together without planning it in advance. Although they still did not speak much to one another, they knew each other very well, just like old bosom friends. By the end, they could even tell with just a look or a motion what the other wanted to do.

Meanwhile, Little Four was also very busy. One of his duties was to find time to fake Ling Lan's virtual appearance to help his boss complete some of those scout academy daily missions. Ling Lan couldn't very well stay offline for so long, right? Besides that, Little Four also had to help Boss to maintain her relationships with Qi Long and the others. There were times when he even had to pretend to be Ling Lan to join them in clearing some group missions. Luckily, Little Four had grown up with Ling Lan and had hung around her all this time, so he was extremely familiar with Ling Lan's mannerisms and tone of voice, managing to carry it off without raising any suspicion among her companions.

On top of that, Little Four still had to prevent the cheetah mecha operator from getting too close — Little Four firmly believed that someone being so nice for no reason, must definitely be hiding some evil intention. The cheetah mecha operator was treating his boss so well, so he must have some nefarious intentions. Little Four had to protect his boss!

Of course, all this was just Little Four's opinion; Ling Lan completely disagreed. From what she could sense, the cheetah mecha operator was extremely mature, and he was also an operator who was deeply obsessed with mecha control. Moreover, the other did not even know whether she was a boy or a girl, so what sort of nefarious intentions could he have?

Of course, Ling Lan's words drew Little Four's derision. He mocked her, saying that she was just fooling herself — just think about it, all of the newbies in the mecha training hall were basically all youths of about 16 years of age ... why would a mature adult be here? And youths were the hardest people to figure out — who knew what kind of insanity they would involve themselves in next?

Neither one could convince the other, but Ling Lan did not take any of this to heart. She continued to 'coincidentally' meet the cheetah mecha (Little Four was the main contributor to this; he felt that it was still safest to keep someone dangerous close where he could watch him) and train together in silence. At times, Ling Lan would feel as if she had gained some breakthrough and enter the mecha training hall to take the basic assessment again. At those times, there would always be a cheetah mecha watching from the side. Similarly, every time the cheetah mecha retook the assessment, as long as Ling Lan was online then, she would also choose to watch from the side.

With all of this, Ling Lan felt that the cheetah mecha should be considered one of her friends now. Which was why she had been so happy when she had heard what Little Four had to say about the other's ability. In her mind, only when both parties felt the same could a relationship be called a true friendship.

Thus, Ling Lan decided to tell the other her secret of training hand speed. "It actually isn't much of a secret. Back in the real world, you just need to place some marbles in your palm and move them around quickly without letting them fall, that's all."

Ling Lan's words caused the cheetah mecha to be extremely taken aback — he had never expected Ling Lan to just reveal her inherited secret just like that. He could not help but be worried for her, saying, "Aren't you afraid of drawing the displeasure of your teacher's sect? Don't reveal this kind of secret so easily in future."

"Displeasure? It shouldn't." Ling Lan lifted her head as she thought about it. She did not think her dad would be so stingy and mind that much, so she said, "Don't worry about it. I'm only telling you about this, because you're my friend."

Ling Lan's words touched the cheetah mecha operator. He suddenly had the urge to tell the other about his true identity, but the words had barely touched his lips when his grandfather's words echoed by his ear: "Little Lan 1 , you must remember, while you're studying at the scout academy of planet Azure, even if you meet a friend you find extremely dependable, you still cannot let them know your real identity or what you really look like. Only when you're fully 20 years old, after you've officially become an adult ..."

The cheetah mecha operator clenched his fists tightly and gritted his teeth — only by doing so could he push down the shame and guilt he felt to the bottom of his heart. After a long beat of silence, he finally managed to eke out two words, "Thank you!"

Ling Lan knew nothing about the struggle within the cheetah mecha operator's heart right now. She was in a great mood, because she believed that with the help of the training method to increase hand speed, the cheetah mecha would definitely continue to stay here and train his basic control. With a friend by her side, training wasn't as boring as it could be.

********

In the following period of time, inside the mecha training hall, a rabbit mecha and a cheetah mecha were often seen training their basic control together, taking assessments together, studying control techniques together ... they became known as the famous rabbit-cheetah duo of the mecha training hall.

The rabbit-cheetah duo's skilful and almost flawlessly perfect movements attracted the respect and admiration of all the mecha newbies who walked through the mecha training hall's doors. Gradually, they gained reputation among the newbies; every one of their assessments would draw countless spectators. These spectators were witness to the birth of Ling Lan's and the other's increasingly high ranking on the leaderboard. They saw off batch after batch of old newbies, and welcomed group after group of fresh newbies.

Due to these newbies both young and old, talk of the rabbit-cheetah duo spread even further and became even more legendary. In the end, rumours about them spread far and wide throughout the entire virtual world — saying that two experts of mecha control were unwilling to graduate from the planet Azure mecha training hall, because they wanted to surpass the old time and make a new record.

Of course, this rumour was greeted with scorn by most people. Almost everyone thought that the rabbit-cheetah duo were obviously chasing a pipe dream — they would never be able to break the old record. This was because the current best record of the basic control assessment was set ten years ago, by none other than the god-class operator Ling Xiao. Of course, back then, Ling Xiao still hadn't become a god-class operator yet.

Still, even so, his result wasn't something an average person could break. After repeated studies by specialists, they confirmed that Ling Xiao's result had already achieved the pinnacle of basic mecha control. Only if someone were to use mecha of special-class and above, combined with the control skills of an ace operator or better, then there might be the low possibility of surpassing it. (Because the mecha used for basic control assessments were the most primitive three types of mecha, the crudeness of the mecha had also limited Ling Xiao's performance.)

But is this possible? Everyone knew that all the mecha training hall provided were the most primitive mecha; no one could get their hands on any better mecha. So, there would never be a scenario where, using the same type of mecha, someone would be able to break Ling Xiao's record ...

Ling Lan did not know that they had swept the whole virtual world into animated discussion. After she and the cheetah mecha operator had thoroughly studied and experimented with their bestial mecha, they had then switched to avian mecha, and had finally chosen humanoid mecha.

When they had become fully proficient in the basic control of all three main types of mecha, Ling Lan used a humanoid mecha in the learning space to pass the tunnel mission. After she passed, the long-absent Instructor Number Three appeared once more, and this time, he immediately told Ling Lan to make preparations — tomorrow, she would officially begin following him to learn the beginner level techniques and movements.

When Ling Lan heard this, she almost raised her arms and cheered; she laughed loudly three times 1 to celebrate her progress to the next stage. It should be noted that continuous training in just the basic controls was really boring and hence tiring. If she had been alone, she might have already gone ahead long ago and graduated to the real mecha world to seek out newer and more interesting pursuits. But when she saw the cheetah mecha operator practising the basic mecha controls with such a serious attitude, Ling Lan had no choice but to carry on and persist. Dammit, how could she, a mature older woman, lose to this little green spring onion of a youth before her ...

(A certain pretty boy youth who had just logged off was cheering himself on at the same time: to be the strongest mecha operator in this world, he could not lose to anyone else. Since the rabbit mecha could train so tirelessly in the basic controls without complaint, then he must be able to do it too! He must hold on and persist!)

It had to be said that, at times, some misunderstandings were extremely beautiful. The two of them felt that the other's attitude was very serious and very tenacious, and so they both did not want to lose to the other ... in this way, the two of them persisted together through mastering these extremely dry and boring basic mecha control exercises!

1. The author switches to marbles here though Ling Lan was training with steel beads previously. *shrugs*

2. This is a different 'Lan' character than the one in Ling Lan's name. Let's have a look at the three main 'Lan's in the story thus far. :3

兰: Ling Lan's Lan-character. Literal meaning is 'orchid'.

蓝: Lan Luofeng's Lan-character. Literal meaning is 'blue'.

澜: Cheetah mecha operator's newly revealed Lan-character here. Literal meaning is 'waves' or 'billows'.

3. This is exactly what the author wrote. Don't ask me why three times, I couldn't find anything conclusive about this. I have heard mention of a 'if you're serious about something, do it three times' kind of meme though. So, it's possibly a reference to that.

Chapter 129 - Missed It?

The next day, Ling Lan rushed to log on to the virtual world in her excitement. She swiftly chose her rabbit mecha and and was loaded into the mecha training hall, prepared to seek out the cheetah mecha operator to tell him the good news. Hell yeah, she could finally say bye-bye to basic control training!

However, she was quickly pinned down by horror. If the mecha could faithfully mimic what Ling Lan felt at that moment, we would see the rabbit mecha shiver from head to tail, all its hairs standing on end.

Apparently, Ling Lan had unwittingly turned on the mecha's viewing screen, only to be faced with two large black holes staring at her unblinkingly. Those black holes were really just too dark, too dim, and too vacant, causing pins and needles to break out all over Ling Lan's scalp.

"Hells, why did you have to lie down right in front of me!" raged Ling Lan, immediately jumping up to kick and punch at the other.

And so a rabbit was seen waving a carrot around violently, whacking a cheetah lounging lazily on the ground before it. This love-filled scene caused all the surrounding newbies to turn and look, extremely curious — what was this legendary rabbit-cheetah duo doing now?

Helplessly, the cheetah used its claws to block the rabbit's tantrum, and said somewhat dully, "Stop being angry, I have something to tell you."

Eh? He had something to tell her too? Blankly, Ling Lan pulled back her carrot and placed it in the rabbit's mouth for safekeeping. Then, she plopped down beside the cheetah, and waited patiently for the other to speak.

The cheetah was silent for a moment, before saying gloomily, "I just wanted to tell you that, I have to take the assessment and graduate today." Saying this, the cheetah was telling Ling Lan that this time, he would choose to graduate and leave the mecha training hall, and head off into the real mecha world.

The cheetah mecha operator actually felt as if he were doing a great wrong to the rabbit mecha operator — if it had not been for the rabbit mecha operator, he would not have ever been able to obtain such great improvement in his mecha control. After this period of training, he now fully understood the reason why basic control was so important. He was very grateful to Ling Lan, and this gratefulness just added to his guilt for leaving first on his own.

Ah? So coincidental? She was just thinking of leaving, and now the other actually needed to leave as well. In that instant, Ling Lan had the sudden feeling that the synchronicity between the two of them was really rather abnormal.

"Uh ... I actually wanted to say that too — that I wanted to take the assessment and graduate." Due to surprise, Ling Lan paused for a few seconds before finally spilling the words that she had wanted to say to the cheetah mecha operator.

However, this odd pause of a few seconds made the cheetah mecha operator misunderstand the situation. He thought that Ling Lan was intentionally lying to him just to comfort him. Mind you, to break Ling Xiao's graduation assessment record, it was still somewhat difficult at their current skill level. The cheetah mecha operator had always thought that Ling Lan had been staying behind in the mecha training hall because she needed to complete the mission of breaking that record. At one point, he even suspected that this was a mission assigned by Ling Lan's mentor's sect ...

So, when Ling Lan suddenly changed this stance of hers, saying that she wanted to take a final assessment and graduate as well, in the cheetah mecha operator's eyes, this was obviously for his sake. The made him feel touched and ashamed at the same time.

Such a great teacher and good friend, but because of his promise with his grandfather, he was not able to reveal his true identity and appearance to the other ... The guilt in the cheetah mecha's heart just grew and grew, and his reluctance to leave just became stronger and stronger.

"Sorry!" A torrent of emotions, and in the end he could only condense them into this most common of words.

"I'm speaking truthfully ..." Ling Lan was somewhat speechless. Dearie, you're really overthinking this.

"Due to some issues in the real world, I need to leave the mecha training hall to go to the real mecha world. I'm really very sorry."

"Honestly, I'm not lying ..." said Ling Lan moodily. Why wouldn't he believe her?

"I know! Thank you!" The cheetah mecha operator abruptly cut off what Ling Lan was saying, thanked her sincerely, and then before Ling Lan could respond, he had already chosen to enter his graduation assessment ...

Seeing the cheetah mecha disappear in an instant, fleeing under duress from his own perceived guilt, Ling Lan almost flipped the table in anger. Hells, that bastard! Couldn't he have listened to her properly before leaving?

A long while later, Ling Lan, who had regained her composure, suddenly burst into laughter. For the first time, she found — so the cheetah mecha operator had had such an obstinate side to him. Also, that fellow had really just been too good at letting his imagination run away with him.

Still, Ling Lan could feel the stirrings of regret in her heart. After all, the cheetah mecha operator was the first person in this world who had given her the true feeling of a friend; but unfortunately, the two of them just hadn't met at the right time. Both of them were hiding their respective identities, and so, in the end, they could only become strangers with the greatest rapport.

"Little Four, go take a look at his result." This time, Ling Lan did not want to go and disturb the other's assessment, especially since she knew that the other already harboured some guilty feelings towards her. Ling Lan felt that it was a bit of a pity — honestly, she really wanted to part on good terms with the cheetah mecha.

Very quickly, Little Four had returned to tell her the cheetah mecha's final assessment result. His time was just 2 seconds away from Ling Xiao's record, and this result was enough to leave his mark on history as the overall fifth place.

In the end, Little Four told Ling Lan that the other's brainwaves had truly disappeared from this mission space. In other words, he had indeed left the mecha training hall's world to enter a different virtual space.

Little Four asked if Ling Lan wanted to continue tracking the other to see where he landed in the other virtual space, but after some thought, Ling Lan declined. It was just as she had thought earlier — the two of them had met at an inopportune time. How would they have been able to continue maintaining their friendship when they were unable to face each other with their real identities?

"What a shame. If he's around, Boss, your mecha control would definitely improve even faster," Little Four would forever consider things from a perspective which benefitted Ling Lan most.

"You should know that, if it's truly gold, it will definitely shine one day," said Ling Lan enigmatically.

What the heck did Boss mean? Little Four was immediately struck by a wave of dizziness. He hurriedly ran a search on Boss's statement, and instantly understood. So Boss had meant that the other would never be able to escape from the palm of Boss's hand! 133t Boss owns 1 ! Flower shower 2 !

Ling Lan ignored Little Four's mistaken comprehension, immediately choosing to take her final assessment. She entered the mission space belonging to her, and cheered herself on mentally: "I mustn't lose to that punk!"

Countless runs of the assessment had let Ling Lan and the other experience almost every assessment map; this time, the map selected was coincidentally a map Ling Lan had run before. Ling Lan closed her eyes softly, and she could clearly visualize every obstacle of the assessment mission in her mind ...

The mecha sounded the last few alerts to signify the start of the assessment. When only two seconds remained on the countdown, Ling Lan abruptly opened her eyes, and a radiant spark of light flashed across her eyes.

Finally, the start sound rang out, and Ling Lan's rabbit mecha could be seen rushing out like the wind. Among the irregularly moving obstacles, it was leaping and dancing freely, just like an ephemeral shadow, a play of light, sometimes visible sometimes not.

Meanwhile, inside the cockpit, Ling Lan's expression was exceptionally relaxed — her eyes were half-lidded, and the movements of her fingers did not give off any sense of urgency like they used to. Instead, her movements seemed almost casual, sometimes creating afterimages without conscious thought. This made her hands seem like they were performing a graceful dance, choreographing an absolutely beautiful piece of her own.

Subconsciously, Ling Lan also used instantaneous preset control mode — her understanding of this map made it the obvious thing to do, so she included the preset controls without any fuss whatsoever. With that, Ling Lan had entered a sort of heavenly realm of control, causing Little Four to be both shocked and overjoyed at Ling Lan's great luck.

This situation clearly proved that Boss Ling Lan's control skills were about to ascend by yet another level. Perhaps, this time, she would finally be able to achieve the lowest hand speed required by her dad ...

"Congratulations, you've successfully created a new record! The secondary world shall now commence a world-wide notification, please select whether to publicize your name or to remain anonymous?"

Seeing that Ling Lan was still immersed in the insights she had gained in that control session, Little Four quickly helped Ling Lan choose to stay anonymous. Even though no one would be able to trace it back to Boss's real identity if they chose to publicize the name of her avatar, there would still be some risk involved. Little Four constantly took Ling Lan's words to heart, so he now knew to make sure to protect himself well first in all endeavours.

Once Little Four had made the selection, within the virtual world, everyone who was online could hear a voice from the main system: Congratulations, XXX, for successfully creating a new basic mecha control graduation result record! Each generation brings forth new talent, this stable world has finally welcomed a new era of change!

When everyone heard this, a great furore broke out. Those who knew about the rabbit-cheetah duo were all guessing whether it was one of them who had broken the record. Some people even logged off right then in their excitement, rushing to use their communicators in the real world to contact their friends who were still inside the realm of the mecha training hall to find out more.

However, the response they received was that their friends did not know anything either. Of the few who had been coincidentally browsing the assessment name list at the time, none had seen any sign of the rabbit mecha or the cheetah mecha.

It turned out that, to ensure confidentiality, Little Four had removed Ling Lan from the list of observable assessments the moment she started her assessment. In other words, no one would have been able to see Ling Lan's assessment.

Thus, the only one who knew the truth was the cheetah mecha. Frankly, when the cheetah mecha operator had heard this system announcement, his first reaction was that it must be the rabbit mecha. Following that thought, he chuckled wryly and said to himself, "So you could have graduated and left a long time ago ... Hanging out at the training hall for so long, you were probably just waiting for me. But in the end, I still let you down." In low spirits, he immediately chose to leave the mecha world.

********

In a private manor, a major-domo was patiently waiting for his young master to log off. However, as time passed and the login pod remained closed, he suddenly thought of something and leapt forward to pry open the login pod forcefully from the outside. All he saw inside, though, was a pretty young man crying silently.

"Why are you crying, Young Master? Did something happen?" The major-domo was flustered. His young master was an extremely strong child — previously, when his body was in a bad condition, even if the pain was unbearable, he would still face others with a smile, never crying or showing his pain.

The pretty young man opened his eyes; his typically bright and steady gaze now seemed a bit lost and confused. Just as the major-domo was about to ask, the pretty youth suddenly spoke, "Major-domo, why did grandpa insist that I can only tell others my real identity and appearance after I turn twenty? Just why?"

If it weren't for this promise, he would not have chosen to leave the rabbit mecha operator. Then, he wouldn't have to feel this heartache — so losing a friend was such a painful thing.

The major-domo opened and closed his mouth several times, but in the end he could only recite that old fallback, "Young Master, you'll find out later on!"

"Later on? Hehe, sometimes, what's missed is missed, gone forever ... Major-domo, do you know? Just earlier, I've missed what should have been my most important best friend in this life!" said the pretty boy 1 amidst bitter laughter, his tears spilling over silently once more. His expression was pained, and it was overshadowed with a deep sadness for not being able to control his own destiny. It was only at this time that he was truly acting like the 13 year old kid he was.

1. i.e. Elite Boss is defeating everyone! - I used English internet slang here in keeping with the original Chinese net-slang. For those interested, the original phrase here was 'Boss V587!', which literally translates to 'Boss dominates!'. It's a play on how the phrase used to describe 'dominate' (wei wu ba qi) sounds like V587 (V- wu ba qi).

2. Another Chinese net-slang. The literal translation of the original phrase is 'scatter flowers!'. I couldn't think of an English equivalent for this one though, which basically means to 'throw confetti' in celebration. So, decided to just go with a rhyme-play.

3. @.@ The prettiness of the boy is much emphasized. I thought about using other adjectives instead for variety, but the original stuck with just one, so ... *shrugs*. The author intended it this way. Lol.

Chapter 130 - It's Been Tough On You!

Ling Lan had broken her dad Ling Xiao's basic control graduation record. This greatly surprised Ling Lan — despite her joy, she knew very well that this was the result of a fortuitous accident. If it weren't for the fact that she had been familiar with this assessment map, she would not have been confident enough to use the instantaneous preset control mode. And then, to stumble by chance into the extremely rare Celestial Realm ... her results were actually about the same as the cheetah mecha operator's — at most, her best performance would have just beaten his by one second. All we can say is that as a time-traveller, she had been given a direct hack by the God of Time Travel.

Still, this hack had caused Ling Lan's control ability and hand speed to ascend by yet another level. Ling Lan couldn't help but sigh in awe at how unfairly intense the Celestial Realm hack was — actually pushing her abilities up by one level immediately.

In order to fully absorb and master her new hand speed as well as the control realm brought on by the Celestial Realm, Ling Lan immediately chose to isolate herself. She headed straight into the learning space to soak in her new insights.

The Celestial Realm did not bestow this increase in ability to a person directly; it only temporarily brought out a person's best possible state at that moment in time. To really obtain these ability gains, it all depended on one's effort in understanding and reflection, to seriously learn these new limits and make them one's own. Otherwise, as more time passed, the insights given by the Celestial Realm would drift away with the wind, leaving no trace behind. At that time, one's control ability and hand speed would revert to its original state.

Ling Lan spent over a month taking in these insights within the learning space, but outside, only a few hours had passed.

When Ling Lan finally stepped out from the virtual login pod, the aura of her body had changed slightly. The initially frigid and somewhat pressing air around her had diminished a little, no longer feeling as cold as before.

Over the past few years, as Ling Lan's combat ability grew stronger and stronger, the endless killing missions in the learning space had caused the killing intent around her to become thicker and thicker. If Little Four hadn't tried his best to help her suppress this blood-soaked killing intent, her classmates who were slightly weaker wouldn't have been able to approach her at all. And even if Qi Long and the others got close, they would only be able to stand up straight with difficulty, they wouldn't be able to move.

Of course, if that had happened, Ling Lan would certainly fall under the suspicion of the academy teachers and the monitoring military personnel. After all, the students in grades one to three shouldn't have had any real battle experience; only starting from the fourth grade would they be sent out on hunting assignments. How could a child who had never seen true bloodshed possess such a thick blood-red killing intent?

However, as Ling Lan's killing intent grew even thicker and thicker, Little Four also found it harder and harder to hold it back. In the end, a little bit of it escaped, but fortunately, at that time, Ling Lan was going through her icy slackface period. Therefore, even if she emanated a cold aura that chilled the hearts of others, it was still somewhat explainable. This had let Ling Lan safely avoid the suspicion of the military monitors once more.

Little Four was the first to sense the ebbing of Ling Lan's icy air. He instantly threw confetti into the air in celebration. He had been so worried that if the killing intent continued to increase, he would not have been able to hold it back any longer. It had been on the brink of happening — but now, they had dodged a bullet once again.

In a great mood, Ling Lan indulged herself with a great feast. Her title of 'glutton' had never changed, and she was even eating more than before. However, by now, Ling Lan's mum, Lan Luofeng, had already gotten used to the sight of her daughter guzzling down food like a black hole. This was normal. The day when Ling Lan ate less — now that would be a catastrophe, a sign that the Armageddon had arrived.

*******

Several days passed, and Ling Lan, having received some great news, was rather distracted. She actually began to drift off inside the learning space, mind busily calculating the passing rate of time outside compared to time inside the learning space. This 'physically here but mentally elsewhere' behaviour thoroughly enraged Instructor Number Three, who had been in the middle of teaching Ling Lan some F-grade 1 mecha moves. He immediately kicked Ling Lan out of the mecha training space, sending her to stare blankly alone in the great hall of the learning space.

Hells, if she didn't want to learn, then he didn't want to teach either! Instructor Number Three's tsundere 1 side was triggered!

However, there was a legitimate reason for Ling Lan's inattentiveness today. It was because in the Central Scout Academy, a course that she had been anticipating for a long time was finally here — outdoor hunting.

This outdoor hunting wasn't just running around in a forest — using slingshots to shoot at wild chickens and wild ducks — that sort of boring thing. No. It was a full three months of wilderness survival training on some random primitive planet.

Of course, they were still only 10 year old kids, so the academy would not throw them straight off into some terrifying hell-hole to hunt. At most, they would only be sent to an area with some elementary-class wild beasts with low combat ability for training. At Ling Lan's current level of strength, handling those low-level beasts with trash strength was really not much different than killing wild chickens and ducks to her.

But ... that was not the main point. The main point was that they were going to another planet. This meant that Ling Lan would finally be able to take a ride on a spaceship like in the stories she had read ← This was the true reason for Ling Lan's excitement. Darling, did you get that?

In short, our country bumpkin Ling Lan could finally ride a real starship to take a trip into space. So, she just had no way of staying calm. It's just like when we were in primary school, and the teacher had announced a field trip for the first time, we would have been so worked up and excited that we would not be able to sleep the night before ...

The moment Ling Lan saw she had been kicked out of the mecha learning space, without even thinking about it, she immediately exited the learning space. She lifted the communicator by her pillow to look at the time. Er ... it's still too early, only about 4 a.m. in the morning ...

But Ling Lan just couldn't sleep anymore. She climbed out of bed, put on her communicator, and checked her luggage once more:

Weapons: Two magnetic alloy daggers! To the outside world, Ling Lan had always been a right-handed weapon wielder, but in truth, she was better at wielding weapons with her left hand than her right. This dual-wielding ability had been trained under Instructor Number Five — Number Five had said that, a trump that is hidden will always be one's strongest trump card.

Rumour had it that this time, the academy would actually give everyone a beam gun as an emergency backup; the students had all begun learning how to use beam guns since they were in third grade. Ling Lan's shooting skills were not bad, but they definitely weren't top-tier. On this front, both Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing were clearly better than her — their sheer natural talent in shooting was astounding.

Thus, this time, she also brought along an extremely covert weapon — a bracelet specially prepared for her by Chamberlain Ling Qin. Ling Lan carefully placed the bracelet on her right wrist. She looked at the metallic sheen of its deep black colour, common-looking yet serving a suitably decorative purpose, and nodded in satisfaction.

This was indeed that ultra-strong, unbreakable, ultra-thin rope that Chamberlain Ling Qin had used during in that ambush several years ago. It was an indispensable tool for killing people, crossing distances, and rock climbing. With this at hand, Ling Lan would be able to handle certain difficult situations with ease.

Of course, Ling Lan's bag was mostly filled with nutrient solutions of varying flavours (the results of her research), recovery fluids, and first-aid medications. At this time, she was somewhat annoyed — oh why couldn't the learning space come with some storage functions? If it did, then she would have been able to bring enough of all the things she might need, and wouldn't have to fret about what she should and shouldn't bring.

Because all these things would have to be with them at all times, if they brought more than what they would be able to bear, their hunting ability would decline sharply. At that point, they wouldn't be the ones hunting anymore, rather, they would be hunted by the wild beasts instead.

Ling Lan also did not forget to bring some changes of clothes. At this moment, she was atypically glad that she was a fake man. Because she had been injected with suppression shots, her body was in an undeveloped state. Thus, she didn't have to worry at all about menstruation or any of the other host of embarrassing issues related to puberty. And from that, she also wouldn't have to worry about being endangered by these problems in the outdoors either, things like attracting attacks from the wild beasts due to the stench of blood ...

Just like that, after much study and much cutting down, she finally completed her packing. By this time, the sky was already fully bright. Ling Lan took a quick shower, and then walked out of her room in high spirits.

********

When Ling Lan arrived at the classroom of grade 4 Special Class-A, she found that she was one of the last few to arrive. It looked like she wasn't the only one who was excited.

"Boss Lan, over here, over here!" An energetic voice rang out from a corner of the classroom. Without even having to lift her head, Ling Lan could already tell who it was. The only people who would yell out to her so passionately — other than Qi Long, there was only Lin Zhong-qing. Qi Long's voice was louder, however, so his voice was still quite distinctive.

After following Qi Long around for two years, Lin Zhong-qing had lost almost all of his initial gloomy personality. Instead, he was as enthusiastic and full of smiles as he had been at the start of school, when he had served her for one month. However, Ling Lan knew very well that this was just a facade Lin Zhong-qing was holding up against the outside world; inside, it wasn't that simple.

Still, Ling Lan did not caution Qi Long and the others about this. It was up to them to decide their own relationships — whether good or bad, only they themselves would know.

Ling Lan lifted her head to look, and saw Lin Zhong-qing standing by his seat, waving at her.

Ling Lan walked over with an indifferent expression. As a girl, she really had no clue how to interact with these little boys, and so could only use this sort of macho-cool image to handle the situation. In any case, this group of kids seemed to be eating it up.

"Boss Lan, I've bought you breakfast," said Lin Zhong-qing, smiling, as he passed over a box on the table.

Ling Lan swept a look over the scene, and saw that Han Jijyun and Luo Lang were both sitting at their own places with identical boxes, eating delicately. Seated on top of his desk, Qi Long was also holding a box, and was wolfing down its contents unreservedly.

Looks like Lin Zhong-qing hadn't just prepared breakfast for her. Ling Lan accepted the box and opened it. It turned out to be the golden soup dumplings 1 which were extremely hard to get within the academy. It looked like Lin Zhong-qing had gone to the canteen super early to line up just to get these — he had truly put in a lot of effort.

Ling Lan used her chopsticks to prod at the soup dumplings in her lunch box, and said coolly, " It's been tough on you! 1 "

Though Ling Lan had said this almost casually, Lin Zhong-qing's face was painted with a trace of pleasant surprise. Even the ravenously eating Qi Long behind him raised his head in surprise, surreptitiously using an elbow to nudge Lin Zhong-qing lightly, congratulating him for finally getting acknowledgement from Boss Lan.

He used a full two years, only to get this simple sentence ... Lin Zhong-qing's mind was a mixed bag of emotions — for a moment, he actually wasn't sure whether he was happy or resentful ...

Right then, a classmate suddenly rushed into the classroom, obviously emotional, shouting, "Big news! Big news!"

Wu Jiong and Ye Xu had been chatting at one side. When they heard this cry, they jerked, and quickly turned to look at the student who had shouted.

"It's likely that our outdoor hunting course this time may be cancelled ..." The moment the student entered, he shared the bad news with everyone. This caused all the students to become anxious — they had already waited for this day for so long, could everything be cancelled at the last moment?

"What happened exactly? And where did you hear this news?" Seeing that Qi Long had no intentions of asking, Wu Jiong had no choice but to speak up himself and ask.

1. currently left unexplained by the author.

2. I don't even know ... the author legitly uses 'tsundere' to describe #3 here. Take it as you will.

The term refers to an outwardly violent character who "runs hot and cold", alternating between two distinct moods: tsuntsun (aloof or irritable) and deredere (lovestruck).

Here, I guess the author just wants to say that #3 is showing his tsuntsun side, though the rest of the description doesn't seem to fit as well. @.@

3. Alternatively known as 'xiaolongbao'.

4. This phrase was tricky, and I'm not sure how happy I am with the final result. The literal translation would be "Hard work!", but the meaning implied would be 'Thank you for all the hard work!' or 'You've had a hard day! Good job!'. It's usually used to indicate thanks by showing that you recognize the effort and difficulties the other went through to do something. Here, it was mainly a struggle to put it into words that Ling Lan would feasibly say, and it doesn't help that the Chinese phrase is only 3 characters, which works for Ling Lan as a brief acknowledgement. In English ... not so brief. >.<

Chapter 131 - Planet Azure

Qi Long was the spokesperson for Ling Lan's group — since Qi Long did not ask, that meant Ling Lan's group had no interest in the proceedings. But just because Ling Lan's group had no interest did not mean that Wu Jiong himself was not interested.

"I heard that the seventh grade virtual world barrier-crossing award was taken away by the academy of another planet. When the dean found out, he was really, really angry, so he called an emergency meeting now with all the teachers." The student informant had a dejected expression on his face; he too had been eagerly anticipating the extracurricular activity this time. "Now it looks like there won't be time for them to take us hunting outdoors."

The student informant had answered so readily and in so much detail, because the one who asked had been Wu Jiong. He was the team leader of one of the three major teams in Class-A, after all. If the student could gain Wu Jiong's favour and thus get the opportunity to join his team, then he would be set.

Although there were quite a few other established teams in Class-A, there were only three teams which the currently still teamless students really wanted to join. As Li Yingjie's team was now full, his was out — but the few remaining slots on the other two teams were being eyed closely by those students.

Ling Lan's team was very strict in their requirements, due to having only one final slot left. Everyone knew that, to enter Ling Lan's team, the difficulty level was scarily high — not only did one's talent have to be exceptional, one also had to be some sort of an all-rounder. Those who knew their own limitations decisively put their sights on Wu Jiong's team. At the very least, Wu Jiong's requirement for joining was not as high as Ling Lan's team's. And furthermore, his team had two slots remaining, so no matter what, the chances for success were naturally much higher. This caused Wu Jiong's team to receive much more attention than Ling Lan's team in Class-A.

"Which planet's scout academy managed to pull that off?" asked Ye Xu, extremely curious.

"It was planet Azure!" The student informant's answer stunned all the students in the class. Planet Azure was a third-rate planet — the resources they had there were N-levels worse than theirs here ... could it be that an unparalleled prodigy had appeared there?

When Li Yingjie, who had initially been unconcerned by the discussion, heard the term 'planet Azure', his face paled drastically, as if thinking of something. He hurriedly asked, "Do you know who the people who crossed the barrier were?" A team was necessary to pass the barrier mission, which was why Li Yingjie asked this question.

The student informant shook his head regretfully, "I only overheard these few things when I passed by two teachers discussing the issue on the way here. I heard that the planet Azure students pushed through the barrier before 5am this morning, successfully becoming the first team to pass the barrier mission this year. After that, I didn't dare to stay back and listen anymore, so I'm not clear on who those people are."

"For the details, the teachers would probably know." The other students also began noisily discussing the matter.

Right then, a clear voice rang out from the classroom door, "That's right, I indeed do know ..." It turned out that their Special Class-A homeroom teacher Cheng Yuanhang had arrived.

"Good day, Teacher Cheng!" Seeing Cheng Yuanhang enter the classroom, all the students obediently returned to their seats. They then stood primly at attention and greeted their teacher.

Cheng Yuanhang indicated for the students to sit down, and then he announced, "I have two things to tell you all. Firstly, do not worry, the original plans for outdoor hunting will not change. We will be leaving today as planned!" Cheng Yuanhang's words caused the entire class to cheer in unison; mind you, they had been waiting a really long time for this day.

"However, this time round, your hunting quota and difficulty level will be much harder compared to that of the previous years. All of this will depend on your performance on the field, even the smallest quota must be more than half times more than the previous years' quota." Cheng Yuanhang's following words raised a furore among the Class-A students — what was the meaning of this?

"In other words, your class's outdoor hunting duration will be extended to 5 or 6 months ..." added Cheng Yuanhang. This drew a new wave of indignant objections from the students — yes, they had wanted to experience the thrill of some bloody sport, but they had never wanted to remain butchers for so long on a primitive planet!

"Teacher, why did you all decide to make things this way?" asked Ye Xu angrily. This way of doing things was obviously a little unfair by academy standards. In the academy, it was permitted to raise objections, as long as you backed it up with logic and, of course, strength.

"Why?" Cheng Yuanhang's expression darkened. He slammed his palm onto his desk, the loud noise instantly silencing the clamouring students in the class. The classroom became dead silent.

"Ever since our Central Scout Academy was established, we have never once lost the seventh grade virtual world barrier-crossing award, but this year, we lost it. Before we could pass the barrier mission, the scout academy of the distant third-rate planet Azure broke through it ... This is a disgrace for our Central Scout Academy, and also a disgrace upon you all ..."

At this point, Cheng Yuanhang's tone eased slightly, "Have you all considered the reason? Why we failed? Is it because we have been blinded by the glories of our past, so we did not see the relentless pursuit of the other scout academies? Today, at the group meeting of the academy teachers, what the dean said was right — we thrive by strife and die by leisure! If we do not wake up, our Central Scout Academy will lose its former glory, and become eliminated by the changing of the times."

"So, we've decided to take this experience to heart and no longer take it easy ... So, congratulations, from now onwards, you all shall receive the full force of our education. We won't let you all have time to think of any nonsense ... we will make sure to squeeze out every bit of latent potential you have in you." Cheng Yuanhang's words caused a chill to settle deep in the bones of the students; it felt as if a great calamity was upon them.

Ling Lan propped up her chin with one hand, a trace of a smile on her lips. She had long felt that the academy was setting their overall standards too low for the students. This was also one of the reasons why her strength just kept getting further and further from that of these children. Luckily, Qi Long and the others had been hanging around her, and so had not been held back by the academy's education standards.

Still, Ling Lan also understood the academy's caution. After all, at this age, the children were still growing — if they went overboard with training, it may cause long-term damage to their bodies. The academy did not dare gamble with that.

"So that's why we will be getting additional training on all fronts." Wu Jiong understood now. He threw a glance at the pleased look on Ling Lan's face, and somehow understood a bit better why the other was so exceptional. His training load was probably much much more than theirs ... if that was really the case, then he too would not lose to the other.

"Yes, from now on, the Central Scout Academy shall increase the mission load of every grade by two times or more. If the seventh grade of next year loses again, then we'll continue increasing the load," declared Cheng Yuanhang with a cold smile. This was the academy's decision. If they wanted to have better days, then they would have to hope that next year's seventh grade would do better.

"Teacher Cheng, do you know exactly which people were on that team which passed the barrier mission?" Li Yingjie could hold back no longer, speaking up to ask what he was most concerned about.

Cheng Yuanhang stared at him with a half-smile. Li Yingjie felt as if his thoughts had been read by the teacher, but he really wanted to know the answer. If his elder cousin brother was among those people, that would mean that his hopes of replacing his cousin as the first inheritor in line was almost impossible.

"You don't have to concern yourself over this. All you need to do is work hard to complete the assignments given by the academy." Cheng Yuanhang did not give a straight answer, instead advising Li Yingjie to focus on his own issues.

"I only want to know whether there is someone called Li Mulan 1 among them," asked Li Yingjie doggedly.

Cheng Yuanhang's brows furrowed. He glanced at the somewhat emotional Li Yingjie, and thought for a moment before saying, "There was indeed one person with the surname Li." Li Yingjie's face drained of colour in an instant, but then Cheng Yuanhang continued to say, "But I remember that that person was called Li Lanfeng 1 !"

"Li Lanfeng?! It's fine if it's not him." Li Yingjie's face regained its usual complexion. If it wasn't the name that he feared it would be, then it didn't matter who broke past the barrier.

"Alright, if there are no questions, everyone follow me to the plaza to assemble," said Cheng Yuanhang, seeing that the students were mostly settled. With that, he brought the grade four Class-A students to the central plaza of the Central Scout Academy.

Along the way, jet-rollers filled the skies — everyone was riding their jet-rollers to follow their homeroom teachers to the central plaza. Ling Lan thought to herself, perhaps this was why jet-rollers were prized so highly in the academy — when it came to this sort of mass movement, it would have been rather inefficient without the help of jet-rollers.

At this moment, there were already quite a lot of people at the plaza. All the grade four students would be going out to hunt today; only the areas they were assigned to were different.

Ling Lan abruptly noticed that the quiet skies directly above the plaza were filled with countless small shuttle-like spaceships. This scene made Ling Lan feel once again as if she were inside a science fiction world ... well, fine, her whole existence right now was totally a science fiction.

Ling Lan saw something that wasn't usually here around the plaza — there were several large hovering platforms. Right then, on some of the platforms, there were already some students who had arrived earlier. From the platforms, the students were boarding those little spaceships one by one.

Once everyone was inside, the doors of the spaceship would close, turning it into an airtight elliptical shuttle. Then, with a whoosh, the spaceship would zoom off. That instantaneous burst of speed was definitely as high as 0.5 mach.

Cheng Yuanhang brought them to a platform relatively taller and wider than the rest. The moment all the students were on the platform, a large red-painted spaceship flew over and stopped before them.

On the body of the spaceship, the words 'Central Scout Academy Special Class-A' were actually painted on it. Ling Lan sweatdropped — did Class-A even have its own exclusive spaceship? Looks like the academy had really invested a lot in making sure the students felt the distinction of being strong.

The interior of the spaceship was very large. There were three round tables in the centre, and positioned angularly around each of the tables were six padded armchairs. The other seats were all scattered haphazardly around the three large round tables. Clearly, the academy also wanted to emphasize the elevated status of the strong even within the class itself, pushing the concept of survival of the fittest to the very max.

The students lined up and boarded the ship in an organised fashion. Those students who entered first but were not from the three major teams all consciously left the seats around the three tables open.

Ling Lan was the first member of the three major teams to enter. With one look, she gleaned what this arrangement was all about. Without any reservations, she sat in one of the armchairs around one of the tables; Qi Long and the others of her team followed her lead and sat around the same table.

This was their position. Within the scout academy, there was no such thing as giving way out of modesty; to do so would just invite contempt.

1. Ey, Mulan! :D The Chinese characters used here are more masculine characters though, as befitting a guy's name. Chinese names are tricky; it's hard to tell by sound alone whether someone is a girl or a boy. The actual written characters are better indicators, as there are particular characters that are more common in female or male names.

P/S: The 'Lan' character in the 'Mulan' here is the same 'Lan' as that of cheetah-Lan's. ;3

2. This 'Lan' is the same as Ling Lan's.

Chapter 132 - Thoroughly Convinced!

Wu Jiong, who entered soon after, looked at Ling Lan seated on the right, and with a smile, he moved to sit at the round table to the left of Ling Lan's. Ye Xu and the other members of his team followed him.

It had to be said that the positions Ling Lan and Wu Jiong had chosen were the best of the three tables. Their tables were positioned closest to the big screen, while the position of the other table was obviously not as good as theirs, its line of sight being partially blocked by them.

The spaceship's screen displayed the scenery outside. The passengers could enjoy drinks while viewing the scenery outside; Ling Lan, who was extremely curious about everything, would naturally be unwilling to get a lesser seat.

Han Jijyun seemed to be very familiar with spaceships. He tugged on the arm of Lin Zhong-qing, who was also staring around in awe like a country bumpkin, indicating for him to follow him. From who knows where, they found some iced canned drinks, and together they brought the drinks over to the rest of Ling Lan's group.

This caused the other children to look on in envy, but they did not dare to follow suit. Having never set foot on a spaceship before, they really were unsure where they could get those drinks, and there were no service staff or customer service etcetera on hand to help them. If they messed up and caused some trouble by any chance ... that would be troublesome.

Ling Lan used her the pad of her index finger to rub gently in a circle around the top of her can, luxuriating in the chill given off by the body of the can. Although the weather now wasn't extremely hot, being able to enjoy a cool refreshing drink like this was still a true pleasure.

Ling Lan glanced at Han Jijyun, who was currently talking with Qi Long. Sensing her stare, Han Jijyun turned to look and saw Ling Lan looking at him. So, he raised the drink in his hand and gave it a slight shake in her direction. Moreover, his expression was somewhat teasing in nature.

Ling Lan's lips quirked. "Your family's intelligence is very accurate, eh?"

A light flashed through Han Jijyun's eyes, and his lips split into a quick grin. Shamelessly, he said, "Boss, isn't this all just to serve you better?"

Ling Lan couldn't help but laugh. She held onto the can in her hand, and raised it to knock lightly against the other's canned drink, signalling her acceptance. The two of them lifted their heads in unison and took a drink. Their eyes met — everything that needed to be said was conveyed in silence.

Ling Lan knew very well that, with these actions, Han Jijyun was telling her which stratum he came from ... the Intelligence Agency? What a scheming brat. If Little Four had not gathered detailed information on all of them early on and passed it to her, Han Jijyun's subtle hint this time might have really just flown over her head.

Is it because some things just can't be said out loud? Especially with his special family background, Han Jijyun was clearly much more 'black-bellied' 1 than before. Looks like cultivating him into the team's brain would not be a problem.

********

Han Jijyun was satisfied; the smile on his lips deepened. This once again proved that Boss Ling Lan was an intelligent person that only needed a small hint to understand everything. This time, by bringing out the drinks — firstly, he wanted to tell Ling Lan about his family situation; and secondly, it was out of a small selfish wish to test Ling Lan.

Originally, Han Jijyun had acknowledged Ling Lan as boss largely because of his childhood friend Qi Long. Because Qi Long was determined to follow Ling Lan with all his heart, as his best mate, Han Jijyun could only bite the bullet and follow him.

As they grew up year by year, Han Jijyun asked himself more than once — could he really follow Ling Lan with all his heart like Qi Long, acknowledging him as his boss? Han Jijyun knew very well that if he could not be truly sincere in his loyalty, forcing it would eventually lead to a split one day due to a conflict of interest. If that happened, both sides would be hurt, so he might as well make things clear now and rebuild their relationship. Perhaps then, their relationship could be more permanent.

Han Jijyun did not deny that Ling Lan's strength was extraordinary — in terms of combat, he had never seen anyone else as talented as Ling Lan — it was like he was a peerless prodigy born for the sole purpose of fighting. This was also the reason why Qi Long was so deathly loyal to Ling Lan; as a battle maniac, of course he would idolize this unparalleled combat genius.

But Han Jijyun knew that he wasn't like Qi Long; he wasn't that obsessed with combat. Compared to fighting, he much preferred studying all kinds of space campaigns. The various unusual space strategies drew him in completely, and he was also deeply interested in starship command. Thus, Ling Lan would not be able to receive his submission with just combat ability alone. Han Jijyun liked to use his head, so he hoped to find someone who could out-think him to submit to.

However, in these past few years, Ling Lan's cool attitude towards Lin Zhong-qing made Han Jijyun feel that Ling Lan was not a simple person. Han Jijyun understood that Ling Lan must know that Lin Zhong-qing was not simply what he appeared to be, which was why she was treating him so coldly. Han Jijyun had sensed Lin Zhong-qing's duplicity because of his experience from staying by his father all those years before he came to school. Still, as long as Lin Zhong-qing did not do anything to harm them, he also would not be mean and expose him.

In any case, the matter of Lin Zhong-qing proved that Ling Lan was definitely not a simple-minded person. This made Han Jijyun extremely happy, even starting to feel that following Ling Lan just like this wasn't too bad after all. However, it still wasn't enough to secure his full loyalty. In order to resolve this matter as soon as possible, he intentionally arranged this hint-laden scene. If Ling Lan did not catch the hint, of course Han Jijyun would not give up so easily — he would give Ling Lan three chances. If Ling Lan did not sense anything for all three times, then he could only regretfully tell Ling Lan about his position.

Unexpectedly, Ling Lan's response was so rapid that he was rather shocked — this truly proved that he and Qi Long had not chosen the wrong boss. At the very first hint, Ling Lan had got it, even using doublespeak to point out his background. He was thoroughly convinced now. This proved that Ling Lan was very likely much more astute than he had thought ...

The final clinking of cans was his promise to Ling Lan that he, Han Jijyun, would only recognise Ling Lan as boss in this life from now on, with no more reservations.

Ling Lan had not known that Han Jijyun had been struggling over this issue. Frankly, she had never taken Qi Long's and Han Jijyun's acknowledgements as boss too seriously, thinking that these were just the playful words of children. What she didn't know was that the children of this world all matured way too early; they took their promises extremely seriously, and would never break them easily.

********

Ling Lan's and Wu Jiong's teams each took one round table; when Li Yingjie finally showed up near the end, he saw that the two best spots had been taken by Ling Lan and Wu Jiong, and glared angrily at them. But in the end, he could do nothing but sit down sulkily at the round table behind them. Who asked him to arrive so late? There was really nothing he could say about not getting a good spot.

Cheng Yuanhang swiftly did a head count, confirming that all the students of his class had boarded the ship. Only then did he inform the spaceship pilot to depart for the spaceport.

This leg of the journey took about one hour. Ling Lan was slightly disappointed in the scenery along the way. It was okay at the beginning, when they could look down at the entire Central Scout Academy campus — Ling Lan was once again awed at just how vast the academy was. It was so unbelievably amazing, almost as large as a special-class city. But once they were high up in the air, other than white clouds there were just more white clouds. In the end, Ling Lan lost all interest in looking at the scenery, instead half reclining in her armchair with her eyes closed to rest for a bit.

They arrived at the spaceport not a second over their estimated arrival time. All of the students got off the spaceship in an organised fashion, and saw that they were now in an endlessly large spaceport. Standing at its centre looking out, one would feel as if this spaceport was vast beyond imagining. There were over ten thousand starships stopped by the gates of the port. From one gate to another, walking would require around one hour — if one goes to the wrong gate by mistake, it would be difficult to change to the right gate in time. Of course, the federal government was smart, so they made sure that countless transit trains dedicated to the various gates would appear here.

Their teacher led them to board the hover train dedicated to gate 117. The transit was quick; Ling Lan and the others arrived at their destination within 5 minutes.

When they got off this time, Ling Lan saw that a colossal and fearsome-looking cone-shaped starship was parked at gate 117. The missile heads bared to the outside proved that this was a weaponised starship, definitely not a leisure cruiser for citizen usage. The scars left on its body by missiles just drove the point home that this was no simple starship.

Ling Lan cast a curious look at the teacher Cheng Yuanhang at the front, wondering how he had found such a fearsome starship. Mind you, this kind of battle-experienced starship couldn't possibly belong to the scout academy.

Cheng Yuanhang led the students into the starship. At the main door, a strong man stood ramrod straight. Although he wasn't dressed in military uniform, Ling Lan could still clearly sense the stamp of the military on him. It was as if the unsatisfied bloody killing intent freshly back from the battlefield still lingered around him.

"Old Lian, I didn't think it'd be you. We'll be troubling you this time." Cheng Yuanhang was extremely warm towards the other, and his tone had a clear thread of respect.

"Haha ... Little Cheng, what are you saying? As long as I'm free, I just love accepting assignments from your academy. Many of my brother subordinates are from your place, you cultivated them well!" said Old Lian with a boisterous laugh, clapping a hand on Cheng Yuanhang's shoulders.

That said, he pulled Cheng Yuanhang aside subtly, and asked quietly, "Give me some hint. Of the students you've brought this time, how many are you satisfied with?"

Speechless, Cheng Yuanhang glared at him, "Don't even think about it. They're still kids."

As if having been caught harbouring some ulterior motives, Old Lian chuckled awkwardly. He did not dare to say anything further, hurriedly turning to order his subordinates in a loud voice to bring Cheng Yuanhang and his students to their waiting room.

Seeing the students disperse, Cheng Yuanhang surreptitiously pulled Old Lian aside, and indicated for the other to look in Wu Jiong's direction. "That Wu Jiong comes from a military elite family. You should know his grandfather, that support pillar of the military Wu family."

Old Lian stuck his tongue out, gasping in surprise, "Who'd have guessed that is his grandson? He should probably be the most talented one of your bunch then."

"He's not!" said Cheng Yuanhang curtly. He pointed out Qi Long and Ling Lan, and said quietly, "That boy with the silly grin, the one that's speaking so brashly ... his talent is definitely no less than Wu Jiong, perhaps even better. He's called Qi Long. In fact, his father isn't a simple character either. Qi Yaoyang, you should know him, right?"

"Of course I know! That's the strongest ace operator of our Third Division mecha operators. I heard that he's about to advance to become an imperial operator this time, but who knows if that's true ..." Old Lian was rather tongue-tied in his shock; the backgrounds of these kids were frankly quite frightening.

"Well, it's about time for him to ascend. At the beginning, he purposely held back and delayed his advancement just so he could be deployed successfully. After these past few years, he probably won't be able to hold back any longer." As Cheng Yuanhang had a direct line to the academy dean, his information was generally quite reliable.

1. basically the same meaning as the explanation in a previous chapter on 'having black innards'. Manipulative, full of plots and schemes.