210 - 215

Chapter 210 - The Operation Begins!

Qi Long's speed was very fast, moving almost between blinks. Because the young leader was currently fully focused on Luo Lang, he was not on guard against a sneak attack from Qi Long. Thus, Qi Long's unexpected strike hit the other square in the face, and the young leader was sent flying by this one punch to crash heavily to the ground ...

"Leader!" The crew members on the scene cried out in shock. They were shocked that their leader had been struck down with just one punch, and also furious at the other side's shameless sneak attack.

Seeing this, Luo Lang stopped attacking and stood to a side. He cast a discontented glance at Qi Long. "I could have handled him." This one glance was unimaginably flirtatious 1 !

Qi Long seemed oblivious — he only lifted up his right hand to reveal the communicator on his wrist. Luo Lang instantly understood — Boss Lan's orders must have arrived.

********

"Right now, the one that attacked, is he that youth's team leader?" In the captain's room, the major's interest was piqued by Qi Long who had abruptly attacked.

"He should be!" said the captain, frowning. He rather disliked this sneak attack method of Qi Long's.

********

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, five or six furious crewmen leapt at Qi Long, prepared to teach this despicable punk a lesson.

Qi Long stood his ground, glaring coldly at these crewmen coming at him. Right before they could touch his body, he gave a great bellow, the Qi-Jin in his body circulating rapidly as he stomped the ground heavily with his left foot. With the rebound force produced, he sprang into the air, and let loose with both legs ...

"Bam!" "Bam!" "Bam!" ...

Consecutive sounds of bodies being kicked rang out, and these crewmen were sent flying back like flower petals being scattered by a heavenly flower girl 1 . They fell heavily to the ground and tumbled to the side. One of the crewmen even ended up being bowled in Luo Lang's direction. Facing this sudden human projectile, Luo Lang shifted one small step, and with a slight twist of his body, the crewman grazed by him to crash into the ground ...

At this moment, the young leader had already got back on his feet. Seeing Qi Long knocking down these crew members so easily, he could not help but exclaim with a dark expression, "Qi-Jin stage!"

These three words were hissed through clenched teeth. He would never have thought that such a monster would be concealed within this batch of new cadets. A 16-year-old at Qi-Jin stage ... this was absolutely a legendary existence.

"Qi-Jin stage? How can this be?" The captain, who had been paying close attention to the situation in the cafeteria in his room, heard what the young leader said and could not help but shout.

The major smiled wryly, "Perhaps, the Central Scout Academy has been so quiet for so many years because they were focused on cultivating this monster ..." Ye Yifan, are you preparing your comeback now?

"The military academy may really be in for an upheaval," sighed the major.

"If the other is really at Qi-Jin stage, Lil' Ghost is definitely no match for him!" said the captain with a grim countenance, "I must go and see." He could not afford to let the boat capsize in a ditch 1 . Failing to teach these fresh cadets a lesson, while his capable subordinates were beaten so badly they fell into a funk in the end.

"Mm, it's time for you to go quell the situation." The major was in full agreement. If they did not suppress that Qi-Jin stage fresh cadet, their test was likely to be nipped in the bud, for those students would definitely no longer have any fear of them.

"Don't worry, I will teach him a good lesson. On my turf, no one has ever dared be this cocky." That said, the captain departed from his room.

The captain's movement was immediately reported by Little Four to Ling Lan. Ling Lan clenched a victory fist internally, mentally cheering a loud 'YES' — they had finally managed to hook the captain out of his room 1 ...

However, they still needed to wait a little longer ... Ling Lan held back the excitement in her heart. Her expression extraordinarily calm, she remained still in her seat, closely monitoring the captain's progress.

At this time, some of the students in the hall not from the Central Scout Academy were extremely curious over the large assembly of around 100 students around Ling Lan. One of them slunk up to a Central Scout Academy student right on the fringes of the group and asked softly, "I want to ask, what's the plan behind so many of you gathering here?"

The Central Scout Academy student was actually not very clear why Ling Lan had called them all here — he only knew that it would definitely be something big and exciting. He smiled apologetically at the student who asked, but did not reply verbally.

Seeing that the Central Scout Academy student had no intention of sating his curiosity, the other student could only give up and return back to his companions.

"Did you get any news?" asked one of his companions softly.

That students shook his head regretfully, but said firmly, "There must be some plot. They just do not want to let us know." He looked towards a pensive-looking youth, and could not help but ask him, "Third Elder Brother, what should we do now?"

The pensive youth was startled out of his thoughts by this question. He frowned as he lifted his head, and throwing a glance in Ling Lan's direction, he said, "Wait! So many people won't suddenly disappear. We'll definitely find out what they're up to in the end. "

Over this past half of the day, he had basically figured out that these students were all from the Central Scout Academy. In the past, the students of that academy had always been the object of their envy-jealousy-hate, but from now on, they were all standing at the same starting line.

And it was for precisely that reason that he was unwilling to be excluded by these prodigies at this juncture ...

"Okay, we'll do what you say, Third Elder Brother." These few people had only managed to qualify for the First Men's Military Academy because of him, so they were very deferential to him, willing to follow his will in all things.

********

When Ling Lan confirmed that the captain had entered the branch passage heading to the cafeteria, she knew that the time to act had arrived. She abruptly stood up, swept her gaze across the students around her, and said softly, "The game begins! Don't ask any questions. Just follow your own team leaders. A bit later on, they will explain what exactly we are planning to do."

Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie nodded at Ling Lan, and then they led 30 over people into passages in two different directions, leaving the main hall ... a majority of the team members followed their team leaders, nonplussed, but the ten or so team leaders present all knew what they needed to do.

The passage that Wu Jiong chose was headed for the engine room — he needed to gain control of the engine room as soon as possible. It should be known that once the power was cut in the engine room, the spaceship would enter a paralysed state where all its systems would be unable to run normally. To take control of the ship, this place was indispensable. Due to the great importance of the engine room, Ling Lan had given this challenging task to Wu Jiong.

Meanwhile, Li Yingjie was headed for the living quarters of the crew. They needed to suppress the crew members inside at soonest notice. They could not allow the crew members to catch their breath and gather together to fight back.

Ling Lan swept her gaze over the remaining people in the room, and said coldly, "Follow me!"

She led the way out of the main hall, Han Jijyun and Lin Zhong-qing close behind her. The remaining students looked at each other in excitement, and then hurried to keep up, not daring to dawdle.

Ling Lan's task was the heaviest. The path she chose required them to take control of two places, one of which was the spaceship's central control room. Mind you, all the facilities and procedures were coordinated and controlled from there. These included the power system, the gravitational system, the surveillance system, the weapons system, the mecha system, detection system, etcetera. All these systems were monitored and controlled by specialised staff. Ling Lan could still ignore the other systems, but to lock down the doors of the different sections, one needed to take control of that room.

Although Ling Lan was sure that the spaceship's side would not mobilise their mecha, Ling Lan decided to eliminate all possibility of that happening anyway. Therefore, Ling Lan decided to take control of the central control room and seal off the mecha hold where all the mecha were being kept so the other party would have no chance to even get close to the mecha!

Besides this place, the other place they needed to take control of was the captain's room behind the central control room. The core of the ship's mainframe was there — only by taking control of the captain's room could they crack the mainframe's authority and gain the right of control, thus truly obtaining the ship's control rights.

Originally, the captain's room was the hardest to conquer because the most capable captain was stationed there. However, due to Ling Lan's planning, this was no longer a problem. This made it much easier for Ling Lan and the students to gain the control rights of the spaceship.

Although the difficulty seemed much reduced, Ling Lan still did not let down her guard — because Little Four had warned her that there was still one person in the captain's room, and Ling Lan was unclear on that mysterious person's capabilities. This added a certain degree of uncertainty to their plan.

In the main hall, very soon, there was not a single Central Scout Academy student left.

"Third Elder Brother, which team should we follow?" One of the members of the group which had been watching Ling Lan and company closely could not help but ask anxiously.

"This one!" The one they called 'Third Elder Brother' still remembered who the head of that group was — it was that student who everyone reverentially called Boss Lan. He had the most interest in him.

This group of people carefully trailed behind Ling Lan's party, slowly following it deeper into the passageway.

Ling Lan's party very quickly divided themselves into combat units, three to a team for a total of 12 teams. The odd man out, Ling Lan, was a solo team on her own. Every time they came to the hiding spot of a crew member, they handled it by pitting one team against one opponent.

To begin with, these students were exceptional prodigies of the Central Scout Academy; their combat prowess was not weak. On top of that, pitting three-man teams against each crew member let them breeze through all the way, bringing down all the concealed sentries without causing much of a stir.

However, they soon met an unforeseen incident. Perhaps the smooth sailing caused the Central Scout Academy students to somewhat lose their focus — when it came to the twelfth batch of sentry crewmen, they bumped into a tough nut to crack. A three-man attack actually did not manage to put down the opponent.

That person reacted quickly — he did not choose to fight back, instead moving towards the hidden warning alarm in his hand. Just when everyone's expressions changed, silently screaming 'oh shit', that person's hand halted abruptly right before it could touch the button. Then, there was a flash of a silhouette, and that person was down on the ground.

Only then did the students notice that Ling Lan, who had been watching their backs at the flank, had finally made a move. With lightning speed, she had struck the opponent unconscious.

Ling Lan swept a cold look over all of them, and the small team which had made a mistake automatically ducked their heads, cold sweat breaking out all over their bodies.

"Be more alert!" These three cold words let the three-man team breathe out a sigh of relief even as they felt consumed by shame.

"Yes!" The three of them answered quietly. They silently reminded themselves that they definitely could not lose focus and make such a mistake again, and lose face.

They did not want to see Ling Lan's disappointed gaze. Ling Lan's greatness had already become rooted in their hearts after 10 years of accumulation and reinforcement. They believed that Ling Lan would definitely reach the pinnacle of strength; thus, they hoped to keep following Ling Lan. This was a wish born out of a deep admiration from the heart ...

1. T/C: I don't even know ... dear author, what are you doing with Luo Lang?

2. Qi Long being the flower girl in this scenario ... xP

3. Chapter 80 was the last reference for this Chinese idiom. Revision: failing at an easy task (due to negligence or some stupid reason). I won't be giving footnotes for this phrase anymore after this. :3

4. like a fish. :p

Chapter 211 - New Members!

The three youths moved all of the unconscious sentry crewmen into one of the ship's rooms and locked it. Without someone to input the passcode on the panel outside, the people inside the room would not be able to get out. Ling Lan also did not forget to let Little Four disable their communicators, preventing the possibility of any of the opponents revealing their plan if they woke up earlier than expected.

By now, the students following Ling Lan could tell what Ling Lan's objective was. Although it sounded insane, everyone's blood was boiling at the thought. No one chose to withdraw, instead becoming even more excited, believing that this was truly what they should do ...

They were youths who had just stepped out from the scout academy, and were right in their rebellious phase. They had countless fanciful dreams — they were still hot-blooded youths filled with boundless courage. They wanted to make something of themselves and were willing to put in the effort to do it, whatever the cost may be. Still wet behind the ears 1 , they had no fear. As young men, their wings of freedom had yet to be bound by reality ...

Thus, their only thought now was that as long as they kept following Boss Lan before them, they could achieve things they never thought possible — insane things they never would have dreamed of ... and all this was precisely what fed their confidence and pride!

"Third Elder Brother, they, they, they've gone mad! Completely crazy!" When the group trailing Ling Lan's party from afar finally saw what Ling Lan's party was doing, they were instantly scared sh*tless 1 . Some of them were so scared that their bodies had even begun to tremble.

From the perspective of these students, Ling Lan's party's actions were undoubtedly a major crime of insubordination — actually daring to attack the people sent to escort them to their school ... Had they given up on studying at the First Men's Military Academy?!

"Third Elder Brother, let's quickly tell the ship's crew. We must stop them. What they're doing will ruin our pathway to the military academy. They must be lunatics." A member suggested informing the ship's men, thinking that stopping Ling Lan's party's insane actions was the right thing to do.

"Idiot! Shut your mouth!" barked Third Elder Brother, "What do you all know?" Third Elder Brother looked ahead at where the figures had already disappeared and a gleam of intense light flashed across his eyes. Although attacking the crew seemed to be such an unthinkable act, the immediate impression being that the perpetrators must be mad ... after giving the matter a little more thought, it was not necessarily so.

Mulling it over, from the very start of the journey, the captain's introduction had been filled with provocation, and the crew's attitudes had been even worse, their speech full of all kinds of contempt, mocking, taunts, and insults. Even with the students' clear tolerance and giving way, the other side had not let it rest, purposefully forcing that confrontation in the cafeteria, intentionally humiliating that student ... all of this was testing the bottom line of the students.

In other words, this ship, from the captain to its crew, had never intended to make nice with them from the very beginning. Even if they tolerated again and again, the oppression and humiliation would have just gotten worse and worse, until the students could not take it anymore and exploded ... this would have been the inevitable outcome. In that case, why shouldn't they go ahead and address the root of the problem?

That person must be thinking this way, which was why he was doing this! Admiration shone from Third Elder Brother's eyes. How daring was he to be able to make this decision? 1 And how great must his charisma be to be able to convince up to 100 students to willingly take this risk with him?

His thoughts went back to the cafeteria — the other Qi-Jin stage student, he too was an astounding existence. What role did he have to play in this?

"He should be attracting everyone's attention, providing cover for their operation! The person who designed this plan is not just bold, but also very meticulous!" Third Elder Brother had always been a smart guy; he very quickly figured things out. A wave of bitterness surged in his heart — he had once thought he was good enough to challenge these elites once they entered the military academy, but now from the looks of it, he had taken things too lightly. Just this Boss Lan alone — whether in terms of scheming and guts, or realm 1 — was just too far away from him.

"Third Elder Brother, they will definitely fail. That captain is most definitely super strong — they absolutely won't be able to beat him. If we go with them, we will be mistaken as part of them ..." reminded a member.

"So what if we're together? D*mmit, how can we sit out of such an awesome thing? Although we're not Central Scout Academy students, don't forget, we're also graduates of a scout academy, cadets of the military academy just like them ..." said Third Elder Brother.

"If they fail, we will still be mocked and tormented by those crew members. We might as well join them and let the scales tip as far as it can in our favour ... it's a waste of youth not to take crazy risks. I have decided to take the gamble, what about the rest of you?" Third Elder Brother felt his heartbeat speeding up, his blood starting to boil — even though failure would bring nothing good, but what if they managed to succeed?

This was definitely an incident that would shock the military academy — perhaps even up to the entire Federation! He bloody did not want to miss this.

"Third Elder Brother's decision is my decision!" His most loyal team members declared.

"Since you all have decided, then I'll of course join in ..." Although there were still a few people on the team who hesitated, seeing that most of the members had agreed to fight it out, they could only grit their teeth and jump in since they did not want to hold their team back.

The team finally came to an accord. Meanwhile, Ling Lan's party had already disappeared into the passage ahead. Third Elder Brother made his members hurry up — if they were left behind by the other, then they would not be able to pitch in even if they wanted to.

Third Elder Brother was in the lead, and just whilst they were hurrying on their way, a cold and somewhat familiar voice suddenly rang out by his ear. "Since you all are interested, then come along!"

Third Elder Brother's footsteps abruptly stopped. His face shifted slightly, because he had identified the voice — it was the voice of that youth called Boss Lan.

The other team members were baffled by his sudden stop, and Third Elder Brother was suddenly heard to say, "Gao Jinyun, I look forward to working with you."

"Ling Lan, welcome to the team!" The cold voice responded swiftly. As expected, it was that Boss Lan.

"Boss, what are you mumbling to yourself for?" The team members were creeped out by Gao Jinyun's strange behaviour. One of the team members could not help but speak up to ask.

Gao Jinyun did not respond, only saying, "Hurry up and move forwards!"

"Ah? We'll be discovered by the team ahead if we move too fast," said a member worriedly.

"They have already discovered us a long time ago. Just now, they were just inviting us to join them." Gao Jinyun finally explained why he had been muttering to himself.

"So hurry up! No more chit chat!" said Gao Jinyun moodily. That Boss Lan actually possessed the ability to transmit verbal messages from a distance — what ability was this? Could it be a type of spiritual mutation?

"..." Gao Jinyun's words made everyone speechless. Who could have guessed that they had already long been discovered by the other party despite their caution? Thinking back, if they had decided back then to go tell on them, they may have been mercilessly attacked by the other party, ending up shoved into a small dark room just like those incapacitated crew members had been.

At this thought, the members could not help but look at Gao Jinyun gratefully. Once again, it was proven that following Third Elder Brother was not wrong.

The moody Gao Jinyun never would have known that his team members' trust in him would increase once more because of this. They even decided in their hearts that after this, no matter what decision Gao Jinyun made, they would agree unconditionally. This gave him a bunch of stubbornly united team members. In the future, this unity would be what allowed his team to perform exceptionally, securing their spot as the second main force of Ling Lan's entourage ...

"Boss, I did pretty good, right?" Little Four smugly begged for praise from Ling Lan in the mind-space. Earlier, he had used the advanced technology of the learning space to convert Ling Lan's voice into coded supersonic waves which could only be successfully received by the specified person.

Ling Lan said nonchalantly, "Not bad at all! Little Four, keep it up!" Honestly though, Ling Lan really thought what Little Four did was unnecessary. There had really been no need to make things so complicated — he had just needed to transmit her voice through the sound systems already within the ship and let it out within the vicinity of the other group. Even if the message was heard by a few more people, so what? Still, she would not burst Little Four's bubble and discourage him. Since Little Four had the interest to do it, then she would leave him to it, as long as he did not find it troublesome.

"However, don't forget to cover us. The opponent must not discover our movements!" Ling Lan reminded worriedly. She was just afraid that Little Four would get too caught up in his play and forget his main task. The reason why their path had gone so smoothly, not being discovered by the central control room despite taking out so many sentries, was all because Little Four had created fake video feeds, showing the opponent that everything was going on as normal.

"Got it, Boss!" Little Four said, disgruntled. Would he make such a low-level mistake? Why did Boss always ignore what he said? He was a god of the virtual world! He could handle this type of small case without any errors even if he were asleep ...

Leaving aside Little Four's grumbles within the mind-space, at this time, the other people in Ling Lan's party had also sensed Gao Jinyun's party's movements. When Han Jijyun heard the soft susurration of footsteps coming from behind them, his expression could not help but change.

The footsteps sounded rather disorganised, so it looked like the incoming people would not be few. Had they been discovered by the ship's crew?

The other students also began to become restless. Lin Zhong-qing turned to look at Ling Lan, asking her whether he should lead some people over to hold them off.

Only then did Ling Lan speak up to explain, "Don't worry, they are our allies!"

Hearing this, the hearts of everyone there relaxed instantly. The initially tense atmosphere dissipated as they patiently waited for Gao Jinyun's party to catch up.

The moment Gao Jinyun approached Ling Lan's party, he could see everyone stopped there waiting for his party. Thirty pair of bright eyes stared at them in unison, making him feel a tremendous pressure.

"We are students from Huoyun City 1 Scout Academy. I am called Gao Jinyun ..." Gao Jinyun straightened his attitude, and began introducing his party to the other.

"We'll do full introductions later. Jijyun, go arrange it!" Ling Lan coolly interrupted Gao Jinyun, and then immediately turned to head into the depths of the passage. The students did not dare to dawdle, following closely ...

Gao Jinyun reflexively rubbed his nose, silently noting to himself that this Boss Lan was really hard to talk to ...

With the addition of Gao Jinyun's party, Ling Lan's party now had more than 40 people. As they did not know the capabilities of Gao Jinyun's party, Han Jijyun did not split the teams, grouping everyone together as one team to move together.

This column of people did not meet any other unexpected issues along the way. Finally, they neared Ling Lan's first objective, the spaceship's central control room.

1. 初出茅庐: Literal phrase here was 'freshly out of one's thatched cottage'. Most likely in reference to youths coming out from the village for the first time to brave the greater world. In short, inexperienced.

2. 吓得屁滚尿流: Thought this would be an interesting phrase for some of you. ;3 The literal translation of the original phrase is 'scared till (their) farts rip and pee flows'. Such imagery.

3. Alternate version: How big must his balls be to make this decision? #sorrynotsorry

4. No explanation given for this, but context would suggest realm of thought, maybe? It could also be realm of Ling Lan's skills, but this character hasn't really seen much of that yet.

5. FYI, 'Huoyun' is literally 'fire cloud'.

Chapter 212 - Disguised Infiltration!

Ling Lan halted, and with a flick of her right arm, the Central Scout Academy students moved with utmost cooperation, dashing to one side to stick closely to the passage walls. Gao Jinyun's party was off by a beat, but they did not mess up. Some of their members just did not dodge as adeptly as the students from the Central Scout Academy, seeming somewhat clumsy in comparison.

This direct comparison showed the difference in skill levels instantly; Gao Jinyun's face felt hot with shame. He silently decided that when he entered the academy, he would definitely train his party up well, to avoid shaming themselves again in front of Ling Lan in future.

Ling Lan signalled for the students to stay in place and not move. Then, with a nimble flash step, she had arrived at the doorway of the central control room. The doors were tightly sealed — entering or exiting required a passcode.

"Little Four, how many people can you confirm inside?" Ling Lan asked Little Four silently.

"There are 53 staff members, and 10 guards." Little Four projected the scene inside the central control room faithfully in Ling Lan's mindspace.

"The opponent has the advantage in numbers. Breaking in forcefully may not allow us to take control quickly. The other side are likely to find time to send out the news of our attack." Ling Lan's brow furrowed, finding the situation somewhat out of her expectations. She had initially thought that since it was a meal time, the staff members inside would be fewer — unexpectedly, there wasn't that much fewer than normal.

"Boss, I can instantly seal off their communication equipment!" Little Four became excited. This was his chance to shine! It was time to show Boss how awesome he could be.

"And the weapons?" Ling Lan threw an icy glance at the smug Little Four, instantly suppressing the other's flames of arrogance. Indeed, all the staff members inside were equipped with beam handguns. If they just charged in, the other side need only find a chance to pull their guns and shoot, and some of their party might unfortunately die here.

Ling Lan did not believe that under this sudden and unexpected attack, the people inside could still keep calm and judge the situation accurately. It would already be a blessing if they did not just shoot indiscriminately all at once — if by any chance a student were to fall here, she would not be able to live with herself.

Little Four was deeply struck by Ling Lan's words. He could only squat down and draw circles on the ground, busying himself with self-reflection ...

Should she use a large-scale spiritual attack? Ling Lan silently speculated. She actually had a solution — she could sense that the people inside were not people with awakened innate talents on the spiritual front; so, her spiritual attacks could totally incapacitate all of them.

However, Ling Lan had one reservation, because Ling Xiao and Mu Shui-qing did not want others to know of this ability of hers. As veteran warriors, they knew the importance of keeping a trump card. In critical moments, that could be the ultimate move that would save one's life.

Ling Lan took this advice to heart. Although spiritual attacks were not her only ace in the hole, no one would ever complain about having too many trump cards. Thus, Ling Lan had nodded and agreed.

Ling Lan did not like to go against her word. Since she had already promised her father and her master not to use spiritual attacks unless absolutely necessary in a life-or-death situation, Ling Lan would hold true to that. Therefore, she decisively threw out this option and tried to think of another way.

Ling Lan began to go through anything that could help their operation, and suddenly, a thought came to her mind. She recalled those sentries who had been struck down by them — could they maybe try to use the uniforms and weapons of those men?

Ling Lan immediately returned to Han Jijyun's side, and quietly outlined her plan. Han Jijyun felt that the idea was excellent, and the other team leaders by his side also nodded in approval as they heard the plan. As long as the other party had just a beat of hesitation and uncertainty, that would be their chance.

Although the other side had more people, the combat ability of the staff members were not very strong. As long as the other side did not find a chance to pull their guns and begin shooting en masse, the cadets would definitely be able to keep the situation under control. Their chances of winning were undoubtedly still very high.

All young and courageous scout students were willing to take risks — everyone felt that this plan was worth a shot.

And so, Ling Lan led the group back to the room where they had put the sentries in. Before they entered, Ling Lan let Little Four check to see if any of the men had woken up. After confirming that they were all still unconscious, they opened the door. Everyone rushed in, and very soon, all the sentries' clothes and weapons had been lifted off their bodies.

During this time, Little Four had done a quick scan of the ship, and found that the teams moving around the ship were in groups of 10 men. As such, it looked like the first batch to enter the central control room should not exceed 10 people.

After listening to Little Four's report, Ling Lan was even more certain. This was definitely a spaceship run by military men, because the arrangement of 10 people per unit was precisely the smallest mobile unit of the official Federation army (with the exception of mecha squads).

Inside the room, everyone quickly changed into the sentry uniforms. Even though they were only 16 years old right now, their bodies were already not that much different from that of an adult's. At a glance, it was almost impossible to notice anything off.

Ling Lan was the only one who put on the uniform and then immediately took it off again, because Ling Lan was not the well-built manly type. Her muscles were all leanness and graceful lines — it was impossible to tell she was a combat master when she was not circulating her Qi or actually fighting. Her entire stature was a bit more slender than regular males, so the uniforms were obviously too big on her, not at all fitting.

Everyone agreed that Ling Lan might as well not wear the uniform, because it would be obvious at a glance that she was in disguise, making the disguise completely pointless.

Ling Lan smiled wryly; the difference between genders was still apparent. However, Ling Lan very quickly centred herself again, because there was an even more delicate man in her party, Luo Lang ... at that thought, she immediately had no more regrets.

(Ling Lan, don't you think there is something wrong with the way you are thinking? You are a girl, while Luo Lang is a boy ...) 1

In order to ensure safety, Ling Lan, Han Jijyun, along with several intelligent-type team leaders discussed several action plans inside this sealed room. Among these, Gao Jinyun's performance stood out. He provided multiple possible scenarios that could happen once they entered the central control room, as well as the opponent's possible responses; this made the other team leaders from the Central Scout Academy hold a higher opinion of him.

The students of the Central Scout Academy were a haughty bunch, never ever entertaining the idea that there could be better prodigies than themselves in the other scout academies. So, when Gao Jinyun had first joined them, they had not thought much of him and his party, their attitudes clearly cold and indifferent. If not for the fact that Gao Jinyun's party had performed acceptably all this way, they might have blatantly revealed expressions of disdain.

But this time, many of the scenarios that Gao Jinyun described were things they themselves had not thought of. This made them understand that Gao Jinyun was not a simple character, and their initial bit of contempt slowly disappeared as they began to treat Gao Jinyun as an equal.

Unnoticed by the others, Ling Lan and Han Jijyun shared a glance, the meaning of which only they knew.

At the end, each of the team leaders accepted their own tasks and returned to their respective teams. The moment Gao Jinyun returned, several team members surreptitiously gave him a thumbs up, showing their deep respect for their leader. No matter how composed Gao Jinyun was typically, at this moment, even he could not prevent the corner of his lips from curling up into a slight smile ...

Gao Jinyun wanted to say something humble, say that he had only thought of all these due to the inspiration from the others ... Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he suddenly stopped, and all of his initial glee and satisfaction disappeared. He looked towards Han Jijyun, who was currently discussing the final details with Ling Lan, with a complicated expression. Just then, he had realised that those ideas and scenarios he had suggested had all been completed under the other's careful indirect guidance. In other words, without knowing it, he had been manipulated by the other.

"F*ck, who are these people?!" Gao Jinyun, who had originally been confident in his own intelligence, felt his ego being struck once more. Could it be that only aberrants existed beside aberrants? Still, Gao Jinyun was not someone who could not tell good from bad. The other had clearly been trying to help integrate him into their party with his actions ...

Subsequently, the first batch of members to enter the central control room was selected. They were the ten strongest scout students excepting Ling Lan, while Lin Zhong-qing would take on the role of impersonating the leader of the sentry team.

Ling Lan led all of them swiftly back to the doors of the central control room. To save time, Ling Lan stepped up immediately, letting Little Four crack the passcode for this door.

Of course, in the eyes of the others, all of this was Ling Lan's doing. All they saw was their Boss Lan standing at the door staring at it for about one second, and then his fingers flew over the touchscreen, leaving behind trailing afterimages. Several seconds later, he suddenly stopped and calmly told them the passcode ...

They were once again in awe of Boss Lan's greatness. Who could have expected that the combat-powerful Boss Lan would also be so exceptional when it came to deciphering codes? In their hearts, a question emerged — was there anything Ling Lan could not do?

Lin Zhong-qing, who was disguised as the leader, took a deep breath, trying to calm his pounding heart. Now was his time to perform. He must complete the task Boss Lan had assigned to him perfectly. He must let Boss Lan see that he, Lin Zhong-qing, was definitely a team member worthy of trust.

When Ling Lan had reached out a helping hand back when he had been most troubled, when Ling Lan had clearly known he was joining his team with an ulterior motive but still chose to treat him with dignity, giving him a chance to become strong, Lin Zhong-qing had known that Ling Lan would be the leader he would chase for life ...

Lin Zhong-qing's gaze became resolute in an instant. Ever since joining Ling Lan's team, he had been making preparations for this day. In that case, what was there to be nervous about? Perhaps the personal pep-talk worked, for his initially high-strung emotions eased and faded, leaving himself calm and centred.

He reached out his right hand, and keyed in the passcode with steady fingers. The door gave a sudden click and then slid to the left, revealing a roughly 1.5 metre wide entry.

The people inside heard the sound and looked up reflexively. Seeing that it was just the ship's sentries, they relaxed and turned back to their own work. Only one guard near the door asked in surprise, "Eh? Why are you all here? Has something happened outside?"

Lin Zhong-qing answered calmly, "Yes! We have come to give a report."

Without even thinking about it, the guard connected a call on his wrist communicator, and shouted, "Chief, a leader of one of the sentry teams says that there is a situation outside, and is here to report to you."

"Let him come over here on his own!" A rough voice came from the other end of the communicator.

"Yes, Chief!" The guard ended the call and pointed in a direction, saying, "The chief is over there. You can head right over."

"Thank you!" said Lin Zhong-qing politely, though he was mentally cheering 'YES' loudly to himself. It was unexpected that the ship's central control room was so slack in terms of security, letting him pass so easily without even confirming his identity.

He threw a swift glance at his teammates behind him and then walked off in the direction the guard had pointed out. Lin Zhong-qing knew very well that time was of the essence right now — every second wasted meant an increase in the risk of being discovered.

1. FYI, this is not a misplaced translator thought, but actually part of the original text. I did add the brackets though, as it seems to read better that way, since the text reads more like an author's thought. *shrug*

Chapter 213 - Take Control of the Central Control Room!

After Lin Zhong-qing left, the team leaders behind Lin Zhong-qing spread out, all of them getting closer to the various positions the guards were standing at. The guard at the door began to sense something off about the situation, and could not help but warn in a low growl, "Hey, you are not permitted to wander around here."

In response, one of the team leaders walked over to clasp the guard's wrist and said with a smile, "Brother, we're just curious. We've been defending the safety of this area all this time but never got the chance to take a good look. Now, while we're waiting, isn't it okay to let your brothers expand our horizons a little ...?"

The guard's stern expression eased a little at this, but there was still some irritation on his face as he said, "Even so, messing around is not allowed. If the chief finds out, you all will definitely not enjoy the consequences. Listen to me, brother, tell your men to get out immediately, otherwise I will report this to the chief!" The guard's tone was tinged with threat. He did not want himself to get into trouble with the chief over this matter.

"Let our leader handle the chief. Brother, come on, give me some face!" The team leader who was impersonating a sentry member abruptly put a stern look on his face, and his low-pitched voice was filled with threat as he leaned in close.

At this moment, the guard finally saw the face of the 'sentry' who had almost had his entire face covered. Although the other's face was grim with threat, the parts of the face that were exposed were conspicuously young, just like that of a fresh green youth of 15 to 16 years of age. He abruptly recalled their current mission — wasn't it to escort about 500 newly registered students of the First Men's Military Academy from planet Doha?

He swore in his heart, and tried with all his might to wrench his wrist from the other's grasp. At the same time, he tried to shout out to alert his companions that the sentries were fake — this was an enemy invasion!

But before he could sound the warning, the back of his head was struck a heavy blow, cutting off the cry he had been about to unleash. He instantly felt his mind grow murky and dim.

"F*ck, still conscious? The guards here are truly incomparable to those sentry men outside ..." He could vaguely hear a voice speaking by his ear. He then felt another blow to his head, and he fully descended into the darkness, no longer sensing anything.

It turned out that all the students dressed as sentries had charged in under Ling Lan's command. They were split into two batches. The first batch had charged straight for the staff members, while the other had leapt towards those guards grappling with the very first batch of students who had entered with Lin Zhong-qing. As this particular guard had been standing closest to the door, he was the first to be knocked down by the students.

"Nobody move!" The students charged in like wolves and tigers, beam guns in their hands trained on the staff members who were watching the screens. This sudden and unexpected development stupefied the staff members, who just sat there dumbly, not daring to move one bit.

This abrupt situation also disturbed the chief waiting inside for Lin Zhong-qing's report. Seeing this, he pointed angrily at Lin Zhong-qing and bellowed, "Who are you people? Who gave you all the guts to come barging in here?"

Lin Zhong-qing stepped up immediately and said loudly, "Captain's orders. From now onwards, we'll be taking over the control of this area."

"Bullsh*t, why didn't I hear of this?" The chief of the guards did not believe this at all. If the captain had truly given the order for a change in command, he would definitely have been notified.

"My captain only told me. Of course you wouldn't know." By this time, Lin Zhong-qing had already walked closer, narrowing the distance to leave only 3 metres between him and the chief. Hearing the guard-chief's question, Lin Zhong-qing could not help but chuckle.

"Who the hell are you? From which squad?" The guard-chief was livid now. He was the bosom advisor of the captain — the captain would never simply transfer command of the central control room to someone else without notifying him.

As if thinking of something, the guard-chief's face turned dark, "Could it be that you all are mutinying? No, that's not right ... why don't I recognize you? Who the hell are you?"

Lin Zhong-qing did not reply, only leaping forwards as quick as an arrow ...

Seeing this, the guard-chief knew that these fellows were not here with good intentions. Reacting quickly, he drew the beam gun at his waist, but just as he was about to lift it and shoot, it was already too late.

Lin Zhong-qing's attack had arrived. Entirely airborne, he kicked out savagely. The sound of his leg whistling through the air showed how forceful it was, even without getting hit by it, the guard-chief could tell that if the kick landed, he would definitely incur some heavy injury. In the worst case, he might even lose his life.

The guard-chief naturally would not play the fool with his life. He decisively gave up on shooting, choosing instead to cross his wrists to block Lin Zhong-qing's kick.

A muted "Bam!" could be heard as the two collided. Lin Zhong-qing was pushed back by a tremendous force. He somersaulted in the air to land securely on his feet, while the guard-chief stumbled back three paces before the remnant force of Lin Zhong-qing's powerful kick dissipated.

However, Lin Zhong-qing's attack did not stop there. The moment he found his footing, he leapt forwards once more, not giving that guard-chief any chance to open fire. In the meantime, the other students were also leaping at the respective guards they had targeted ...

The staff members may have been stunned for a moment, but they quickly gathered that they were under attack. They really wanted to fight back, but although the enemy seemed to have fewer people, each and every one of them was an exceptional young prodigy. Their combat skills were much better than theirs, as technicians. Several eager staff members had been subdued instantly by sharp-eyed and agile students the moment they even thought of moving, thoroughly scaring the more cautious staff members into submission.

Of course, somewhere out of the notice of the students, Ling Lan was secretly using her spiritual power to monitor the scene. Whenever she noticed some staff members who were covertly trying to activate the alarm system or trying to shoot without being discovered, she would send a spiritual attack at them. The force she used was not enough to knock them unconscious, only giving them a bout of dizziness and making them lose temporary control of their bodies.

By the time they got hold of themselves, their strange movements would have been discovered by the youths closest to them and they would be subdued ...

Thus, whether that strange sensation was something they felt before being struck down or after being struck down, the staff members themselves found it hard to determine. So, in the end, they could only believe that they must have just been subdued by the opponent.

Very soon, the situation was under the students' control. Other than the chief, the other nine guards had all been subdued. This left even more students free to control the scene, further discouraging the staff members from moving. They knew very well how capable their guards were, much stronger than they — if even the guards were no match for these opponents, then they would just be serving themselves out on a platter if they stepped forward.

Moreover, the enemies' identities were unknown. Therefore, all the staff members chose to wait and see — of course, if the other turned out to be enemies of the Federation, they would fight to the death to take them down.

Meanwhile, the guard-chief and Lin Zhong-qing were engaged in a tough fight, neither able to obtain the upper hand. Everyone's attention became focused on the two of them ...

"Boss, I've already successfully taken control of the systems inside!" Ling Lan, who had been waiting outside alone, finally heard Little Four's answer. Little Four had finally completed the task she had set for him, taking command of the various systems of the central control room in a short amount of time.

"Good job, Little Four!" Ling Lan was unstinting with her praise. As a bonus, she even stroked his hair and rubbed his head. The petted Little Four smiled radiantly, face filled with satisfaction.

"Bam!" Lin Zhong-qing and the guard-chief were sprung apart once more after a collision. Landing on his feet, Lin Zhong-qing shouted, "All together!"

Hearing Lin Zhong-qing's cry, several team leaders who had already been rubbing their palms in anticipation leapt forwards without any reservations ... they had long wanted to join the fight, but before Lin Zhong-qing gave explicit permission, they would not simply interrupt. This was a type of respect towards one's companions as well. Of course, now that Lin Zhong-qing had given his approval, they would not hold back.

"You're too despicable!" Seeing Lin Zhong-qing withdraw, only for four to five combat experts like Lin Zhong-qing to take his place, the guard-chief could not help but howl, thoroughly enraged.

At this moment, Lin Zhong-qing stood unruffled in the outer circle of the fight, a smile on his face, but the words he spoke were filled with mockery, "Are you stupid? You are our enemy. Who would speak of morality with an enemy? It's not like we're idiots ..." This contemptuous tone made the already enraged guard-chief feel the flames of his rage grow even hotter.

Unable to calm down, the guard-chief quickly exposed an opening, taking on a powerful direct hit from one of the team leaders. His right shoulder was struck heavily by the other's fist, making him instantly lose strength in his right hand.

Lin Zhong-qing, who had been waiting on the outside for a chance, naturally would not let this rare opportunity go by. His eyes lit up, and with a spring of his right foot, he threw his entire body into the air once more, leaping at the guard-chief.

Lin Zhong-qing's attacks came quickly and somewhat suddenly. When the team leader blocking the guard-chief's line of sight suddenly slid to one side cooperatively to let Lin Zhong-qing's attack through, the guard-chief was not at all prepared, not to mention find time to change moves to suit.

Lin Zhong-qing's kick landed squarely on the other's chest, sending the guard-chief flying backwards to crash heavily onto the wall of the central control room, leaving a faint imprint behind before bouncing off it to fall to the ground.

This kick of Lin Zhong-qing's was extremely powerful; the guard-chief had only had time to gather Qi in his chest as a final defence. But how could this little bit of defence stand up the power behind that kick? The chief was still injured by it. When he fell to the ground, a mouthful of blood spurted out to colour the floor.

Seeing this, three of the team leaders who had been part of the group fighting the guard-chief leapt forwards without any mercy. Two of them grabbed hold of one of the guard-chief's arms each, while the third person put his knee directly on the back of the guard-chief, pushing him to kneel on the ground, completely subduing the other.

Only then did Lin Zhong-qing reveal a proper smile. He had finally completed the task Boss Lan had set for him. He turned his head back to shout proudly, "Leader!"

Following Lin Zhong-qing's cry, a handsome figure walked slowly into the central control room. Dressed fully in black, with gleaming military boots, he walked in with sure steps. His cold but dashing appearance, chilling aura, along with this spirited and majestic attire made everyone's eyes light up, their minds involuntarily exclaiming, "How domineering!"

However, very quickly, the crowd's gazes were drawn to that conspicuously young face. At this moment, everyone instantly realised who these attackers were.

Chapter 214 - Ling Lan's Intention

"Godd*mmit, a revolt?" The moment the guard-chief saw Ling Lan, and then turned to see those covered up 'sentries' taking off their caps, also revealing their overly young faces, he understood that the 'enemies' before him this time were actually their mission, the new cadets of the First Men's Military Academy.

He was filled with shame and anger, struggling harder in an attempt to regain freedom. However, those three team leaders did not dare to let up without Ling Lan's order, holding him very securely, giving him no chance at all to struggle free.

Seeing that his struggles were futile, the guard-chief threatened angrily, "Don't you all want to study at the First Men's Military Academy anymore? Without us, you all will never get to the First Men's Military Academy. Still not letting us go ...?"

Without question, all the guard-chief could think of right now was that these new cadets must be crazy to do such an insane thing.

At this time, Ling Lan, who had been calmly waiting for Little Four's search results, finally heard Little Four's gleeful laughter in her mindspace. "Haha, Boss, I have already found their destination. I've even gotten the detailed coordinates! Without them, I can still bring you, Boss, to the First Men's Military Academy to report for school."

That said, Little Four could not help but mumble, "They were unexpectedly cautious, hiding their true destination so deeply. I had to look really hard, which is why it took some time ..." Reading between the lines, he was telling Ling Lan that he had not been so slow on purpose — it looked like Little Four was still somewhat worried that his boss would blame him for slacking off.

"It's great that you found it!" Ling Lan comforted Little Four inside the mindspace. After that, she put all her attention back onto the central control room, because she noticed that, just now, several of the staff members had secretly tried to activate the alarm system on their communicators as well as the ship's internal enemy attack alert ...

A trace of a cold smirk emerged on Ling Lan's lips, because all their efforts were useless. From the very start, she had let Little Four utterly seal off their communicators as well as the central control room's alert system the moment he gained control. They had no way at all to contact the outside world now. This was another reason why it had taken Little Four a little longer to discover the ship's true destination; Ling Lan knew very well what was the most important.

Sure enough, reality made the other side panicked and flustered. They found that no matter how hard they pressed on their buttons, their communicators and the alert system in the central control room had lost their functions. Not only did they not have any tools to contact the outside, they had also lost the right to control the spaceship at the same time. This discovery made their expressions change drastically, what composure they had left vanishing in an instant.

The staff members familiar with programming all knew what the reason was. This meant the other side had a top-notch hacker, which was how they had managed to crack through their systems and communicators in such a short period of time. At the same time the hacker had taken control of their main control systems, they had lost their contact with the outside world.

Right now, they were like voiceless mutes, like sightless blind, like wingless birds, like criminals who had lost their freedom ...

"Do you all understand now? Even without you all, we can still make our way to the First Men's Military Academy to report for classes!" Since they had a top-level hacker, of course they would be able to find out the true destination. Ling Lan swept a frosty gaze across the control room. Everyone could sense the ice in that gaze, as well as the unlimited killing intent within it.

This concentrated killing intent made all the staff members present who still wanted to try and regain control freeze instantly. Fear rose in their hearts — did the other truly intend to kill them? Who on earth were these new cadets? How could they have such intense killing intent?

Not only the staff members were petrified by this gaze, even the new cadets felt a chill in their hearts even though they knew this gaze had nothing to do with them. The gun hands of some of the cadets could not help but tremble a bit, which just made the staff members at the other end of the nozzle even more frightened, afraid that the cadet in front of them may lose control and press the trigger by accident, causing them to become ghosts in such a muddled way ...

Seeing everyone at the scene petrified by her killing intent, Ling Lan was very satisfied. The many years of slaughter and torment in the learning space were extremely effective — even if she had no killing intent in her heart, she was now able to force herself to emit killing intent, confusing the opponent of her true intentions.

That's right, Ling Lan had no choice but to do this. In the instant she had walked in, and these staff members had realised that the ones holding them hostage were a bunch of military academy cadets, their initial fear had disappeared. They did not believe that these cadets had any intentions of killing them, and with that knowledge, they no longer had anything to fear, and so became emboldened.

This was also why so many people had thought to press the alerts on their communicators and try to sound the alarm, because they did not really think the cadets would truly pull their triggers and shoot them with those lethal beams ...

Ling Lan could not allow these thoughts to remain unchecked — once the other side began to fight back without any reservations, the situation might escalate beyond their control. At that time, she would have no choice but to kill a few men, but Ling Lan wanted to take perfect control of this ship without harming a single person. This was also why she had been so decisive in revealing her killing intent.

But this alone was not enough. After all, without the sight of blood, these people would have some reservations, but this would not make them completely lose the will to fight back. Ling Lan swept her gaze across the room once more, her sight finally landing on the guard-chief's body.

The guard-chief was already at the middle-stage of top-level Refinement. If it had not been for five or six of the team leaders who were already in Refinement stage fighting him together, along with Lin Zhong-qing who was already in the early-stage of top-level Refinement, they would only have been able to subdue the other through sheer numbers. Of course, if the other was in Qi-Jin stage, Ling Lan would have been forced to fight personally.

The guard-chief was also the strongest of all the people here — if she could use pure strength to completely subdue the other, it would definitely shatter the other side's confidence, making them no longer able to muster the will to fight back.

Ling Lan could have actually ordered the cadets to knock all these people unconscious, and then shut them up in a locked room just like with those sentries from before. She only made things so complicated, in large part, all for the sake of these cadets.

She could indeed let Little Four take full control of the spaceship and fly them to their final destination, but this way, the new cadets would miss out on a chance to learn how to control a spaceship. Mind you, this kind of hands-on learning experience on an actual spaceship was very rare — even cadets would only have a chance for practical training on a true spaceship in their 4th year, and even then, it would only be for those outstanding students.

If these new cadets could obtain this opportunity to get some hands-on practice, it would undoubtedly be extremely beneficial for them ... and these staff members would be the best mentoring teachers. This was also the biggest reason why Ling Lan had not chosen to make everyone unconscious.

Because these cadets had willingly followed her and put their trust in her — even if her plan had been so insane in their minds, they had still followed her without any complaints. Ling Lan was someone who repaid the kindness of others — since they had treated her this way, she wanted to repay them with something of a little value.

Ling Lan, who already had a decision in mind, slowly walked over to where the guard-chief was being forced to kneel. She slowly squatted down, looked at the guard-chief, and asked coldly, "Do you feel very aggrieved?"

"Of course, you all are too despicable. If you all hadn't attacked in a group, how could you all have taken me down?" The guard-chief undoubtedly had a lot of confidence in himself.

"Fine, I will give you one chance. If you can block one move of mine, I will release everyone here and personally report to your captain for punishment." Ling Lan abruptly stood up and waved at the three team leaders holding the guard-chief down.

The three team leaders smiled and let go. Pleasant surprise flashed through the guard-chief's eyes, and he hurriedly stood up, saying, "No need for just one move. I'll even take 100 moves." He still had his pride; he did not want to take advantage of Ling Lan.

However, his words made some of the cadets burst out into laughter, laughing at how the opponent was overly confident in his own strength. Although the other Central Scout Academy students had not seen Ling Lan fight for three years, Ling Lan had already been a top-level Qi-Jin master three years ago — against a top-level Refinement stage fighter, Ling Lan would definitely overpower the other in one second. They believed that even though Ling Lan's body was not fully recovered, taking down the opponent in one move should still be no problem.

The guard-chief noticed the laughter of some of the cadets and his heart dropped. Could this leader of theirs actually be a super expert? He looked again at Ling Lan's youthful face and cast away his doubts. Because, to defeat him in one move, the other would need to have Qi-Jin stage ability. The other being so young, was it possible for him to be at that level?

Although there was indeed a Qi-Jin stage student in the cafeteria, that student was after all still at the early stages. Against him, the guard-chief believed he would definitely be able to take up to 50 or 60 moves with no problem ...

Although the guard-chief did not think Ling Lan had the ability to defeat him in one move, the cadets' attitudes made him have no choice but to be cautious. He took a defensive stance, waiting seriously for Ling Lan's attack. Since the other was willing to have a fair fight, he too was willing.

Ling Lan had said very clearly — if he could block one move from him — which meant that the other would be attacking while he defended. He did not want to violate the agreement.

Ling Lan calmly glanced at the guard-chief and then unleashed her aura. An invisible pressure pressed down on the entire central control room.

"Qi-Jin stage!" Sensing this pressure, the guard-chief's expression changed. He pushed his defence from 7 layers to 12 layers — it could be said that he had pushed all his energy into his defence.

"Let's just do it this way!" Ling Lan casually reached out a finger, pushing it lightly in the other's direction. This unconcerned demeanour almost made the guard-chief spew blood, but before he could get angry, he sensed the endless pressure coming from Ling Lan's finger.

"Top-level Qi-Jin, no, this should be optimal Qi-Jin ... how can this be?" The guard-chief was frantic. He quickly crossed his wrists, fiercely defending along the trajectory of Ling Lan's reaching finger.

A loud "Bam!" — Everyone in the central control room was pushed back by an invisible wave of Qi-Jin; the scene was a complete mess.

The guard-chief was sent flying to once more slam into the ship's wall and crash heavily down. Blood flowed in an endless stream from his mouth, and his eyes flipped to white — it was hard to tell whether he was dead or alive.

Even more frightening was the fact that there was now a human-shaped dent in the unbelievably solid ship wall. This scene made all the staff members gape in shock and horror, chilled with fear. How strong exactly was the leader of these cadets? Could it be that he was already at the level of the captain?

Chapter 215 - Respective Decisions!

Seeing the initially pristine floor stained red by the blood spewing from the other's mouth, Ling Lan furrowed her brow in disgust. She callously flicked her sleeve, and then, as if ordering someone to take out the trash, she said, "This smell of blood is really disgusting. Lin Zhong-qing, throw this trash out for me so I don't have to dirty my eyes."

Ling Lan said this in an indifferent tone, sufficiently showing her cold disregard for human life. Even Lin Zhong-qing who was familiar with Boss Lan could not help a shudder running through his heart when faced with this kind of Boss Lan, his face nearly losing all colour in fear.

Fortunately, over the years, Lin Zhong-qing had already mastered how to use a smile to mask his true thoughts. He continued to maintain the smile on his face and replied breezily, "Yes, Leader!" The way he said it was as if he were used to these words from Ling Lan — as if incidents of this sort were a common occurrence — causing the staff members to be consumed by fear.

Ling Lan nodded mentally. Lin Zhong-qing had grown a lot over these past three years, able to handle this sort of impromptu situation proficiently as well. Although the two of them had not discussed this beforehand, their rapport was on point, easily achieving the effect that Ling Lan wanted.

Lin Zhong-qing calmly stepped forward. Frankly, his heart was not as steady as his demeanour would suggest — Boss Lan's ambiguous attitude made him unsure whether the guard-chief was still alive or actually dead ... Lin Zhong-qing could not help but wonder whether Boss Lan had truly killed the guard-chief?

His heart was full of questions, but his expression remained calm and unruffled. He walked over to the guard-chief's body, bent down, and grabbed hold of the other's clothes by his chest. However, as he did so, he surreptitiously used a nimble technique to touch the other's chest as well ...

" Dup, dup, dup ... 1 " The faint sound of a heart beating was transmitted through his palm. Lin Zhong-qing instantly realised that this was probably a scene orchestrated by Ling Lan on purpose to terrorize the staff members of the central control room.

Although Lin Zhong-qing could not understand why Ling Lan would go through all this trouble, he believed that Boss Lan must have his reasons for doing so.

As for whether Boss Lan himself was unsure of the guard-chief's state, Lin Zhong-qing did not even think the matter worth considering. He knew very well that, based on Boss Lan's capabilities, his boss definitely knew the other lived. The only reason he acted so ambiguously was definitely because he was setting a scene.

The uncertainty of the guard-chief's condition caused the staff members within the central control room to experience a sort of empathetic grief 1 . A faint sadness spread through the central control room — not only were they worried for the guard-chief, they were also worried for themselves. At this time, they no longer held on to the composure they had before. They no longer believed that these youths truly would not dare do anything to them — because their leader, that cold-faced and unfeeling black-clothed youth, was definitely a cruel and ruthless character.

Ling Lan saw that the initial restlessness among the staff members had settled, and immediately decided to continue striking while the iron was hot. So, she glared angrily and said, "Tie them all up!"

This bunch of new cadets were still rather green — actually not thinking to restrain these staff members.

That said, Ling Lan threw a look at Lin Zhong-qing. Seeing Boss Lan's meaningful gaze, a thought sparked through Lin Zhong-qing's mind. He recalled the method Ling Lan had once taught their team for tying people up. The method was one where they did not need to worry about materials to tie others up; they would be able to take it from the captives themselves. That method was to use the captives' belts. In this world, on the ship, whether it were the guards or the staff members, all of them would be wearing a belt so that they could holster their beam handguns on it.

Fully understanding what he should do, Lin Zhong-qing nodded at Ling Lan and walked straight over to the nearest staff member. As the other struggled, he unbuckled and took off the other's belt.

The students had already taken away the beam handguns at first notice right after they had taken control of the staff members. Therefore, these staff members did not have any firearms to use against the students, only able to rely on their fists. However, in terms of combat skills, how could these people match up to the elite prodigies trained by the Central Scout Academy?

"Stop struggling. The more you struggle, the more painful it'll be ..." The smile on Lin Zhong-qing's lips widened, causing the staff member to become even more afraid. Could it be they wanted to torture them for their own entertainment? The terrified staff member could no longer keep his calm. He began to struggle in earnest, almost wresting out of the grip of the student restraining him.

"Hmph!" Lin Zhong-qing's smile turned cold. With a quick dash, he pressed the other to the ground, and then used the belt in his hands to tie the other's two arms securely behind his back, finally looping the belt around the other's neck before tugging it back to buckle securely by the arms 1 .

The method Lin Zhong-qing used to tie the staff member was styled in an eightfold interlace. This binding method required skilful technique — it was an extremely difficult but extremely practical binding method that was not easy to learn even after multiple tries. It had been redeemed by Ling Lan from the learning space using honour points.

If this binding method was not done correctly, there was a certain chance for the target to break free. However, once the technique was mastered, the more the target struggled, the knot of the eightfold interlace would just become increasingly tighter, giving the target no chance at all to break free.

Of course, this method was useless when it came to those at Refinement stage and above. After all, the strength of a Refinement stage was enough to snap the resilience of a leather belt. However, these staff members would have no way of breaking free, because the strongest among them was only at the level of Manifestation.

Lin Zhong-qing still remembered how much effort it had taken back then for their team to master this knot, especially for team leader Qi Long. With his brash and straightforward personality, he had never liked this kind of detailed work; he had tried several hundred times without succeeding even once. This had enraged Boss Lan, who had proceeded to throw team leader Qi Long into a private combat room for a good round of torment before being satisfied.

Although they did not know how badly team leader Qi Long had been tormented back then, whatever the case, when team leader Qi Long came back after his injuries were healed, he had been very careful when learning the knot again. That uncharacteristically tremulous and cautious demeanour of his was carved into their minds. From then onwards, the team members were even more wary of angering Boss Lan ... because no one wanted to experience the same tragedy as Qi Long.

Lin Zhong-qing very quickly tied his knot, and pushed that staff member to a corner. Then, under Ling Lan's indication, he walked over to another staff member and again used the same method to take the other's belt, but this time, he said to the other team members on the scene, "Can I trouble the team leaders to monitor the situation? Meanwhile, the other team members, come tie knots with me. Let's get these staff members all tied up."

Just like that, the students followed Lin Zhong-qing's step-by-step example and began tying knots. After each round, Lin Zhong-qing would go around and check each of their knots, and whenever he found any mistakes, he would correct it immediately. Rinse and repeat three times, and all the staff members were securely tied up. Of course, when the students thought back on how to tie the knot, their minds were a muddled mess, not at all sure how they should go about it 1 ...

However, this did not exclude some students with photographic memories from learning the knot. Still, Ling Lan was unconcerned by this. The learning space still had even better binding methods — if this method became common knowledge among the students, then she could always just redeem an even more advanced binding method for Qi Long and the others.

Of course, Ling Lan did not even consider whether relearning a new binding method would make Qi Long wish he were dead ... It was even possible that Ling Lan was hoping to take advantage of it to school Qi Long again ...

The situation in the central control room was already in its end stages; what happened after this had nothing to do with herself. Ling Lan decisively passed on the burden, turning to say to Han Jijyun, "Jijyun, you stay back and hold the fort. Take charge of the central control room." Next, she swept her gaze at all the other students in the central control room and said, "The strongest five, follow me to the captain's office!"

Lin Zhong-qing did not even think about it. He was the first to step forward and say, "Leader, bring me!"

Ling Lan nodded and said, "Alright, four more!"

The team leaders all vied against one another to get one of these four slots. To save time, Ling Lan directly called out the four strongest to come along. Since she chose based on strength, the other team leaders who were not chosen had no complaints.

Of course, Ling Lan also reminded the remaining group that the central control room was the most important control platform in the ship. They needed to remain here to ensure the safety of the central control room — they could not afford to let the ship's crew snatch control back once they found out.

When Han Jijyun sent Ling Lan out of the central control room, Ling Lan told him in a low voice, "This is a good chance to really learn how to manage the work sequences on a spaceship."

"But we only know bits and pieces." They have not had any formal training in operating a spaceship — this may be a great opportunity, but Han Jijyun did not think that they could figure anything out on their own. This was likely going to be a wasted chance. Han Jijyun could not help but sigh under his breath.

Ling Lan swept a glance around the central control room and reminded, "Over there. Aren't there people to mentor you all?"

Han Jijyun's eyes brightened, instantly understanding what Ling Lan was implying. His mind turned and he asked hurriedly, "Is that guard-chief still alive?" Even though he did not think Ling Lan would kill indiscriminately, he still needed to obtain a confirmed answer, because he had thought of a way to let those staff members teach them voluntarily.

Ling Lan nodded in confirmation of Han Jijyun's guess. "How to use him is up to your capabilities." She could only do so much. Whether or not they could obtain what they wanted next would depend on Han Jijyun's efforts.

Ling Lan put in so much effort and thought into engineering this primarily because back when the group had first applied for the First Men's Military Academy, Han Jijyun had not signed up for the military strategy specialization he was good at, instead choosing to apply for the starship navigation specialization. This meant that Han Jijyun would become a starship captain in the future, and even if he did a little worse, he would still be an important navigator on a starship ...

Perhaps many people would find it a shame that Han Jijyun had cast aside his own strengths to choose a specialization with a less promising future, but Han Jijyun was very clear on what he was doing.

It should be known that Ling Lan, Qi Long, Luo Lang, and Xie Yi had all chosen mecha piloting as their specialization, while Lin Zhong-qing had chosen the oft-neglected, perhaps even only chosen as a last resort, supply and logistics.

In fact, with Lin Zhong-qing's talent, he could certainly have applied for mecha piloting as well, but he had still chosen this low-key and unassuming specialization in the end. Han Jijyun understood why he had done so. He was doing it for the sake of the team — a team could afford to lose a powerful fighter, but it could not lack an excellent logistics person.

1. onomatopoeia of a heart beating.

2. 兔死狐悲: original saying here is literally 'hare dies fox grieves', which oddly enough means grieving for one's own kind. If we pursue the concept deeper, although the hare and the fox are naturally prey and predator, they are both still animals, and the fox will grieve for the death of the rabbit at another's hands. Here, just take it as the staff members being sad over the probable death of a companion.

3. I am sorry if this doesn't make sense. This is pretty much exactly what the author wrote. I tried imagining how the tie would go to describe it better, but my mind just ended up in knots (sorry, couldn't help myself. :p). I am so not a scout. />.<\\ If anyone understands it better and has a better description, tell me and I'll edit it. Otherwise, please just take it as a very secure tying method and just move on.

4. i.e. The knot was just too complicated.