The reality of Ling Lan"s enrolment into the First Men"s Military Academy thrilled Qi Long and the other four. Ling Lan waited for them to calm down, and then led them to enter platform 99.
The moment they entered platform 99, they saw a medium-small interstellar s.p.a.ceship parked silently on the port runway. It went without saying that this was the s.p.a.ceship which would be bringing them to the First Men"s Military Academy.
The First Men"s Military Academy was famous throughout the entire Federation. Everyone knew it was situated onplanet Edusea1, but its specific address was not publicly known. This was very likely a measure to protect its students, but could also be to prevent riff-raff from getting close to the school and causing trouble. Whatever the reason, the obscurity of the academy"s address was an undeniable fact.
The s.p.a.ceship was quite a distance from them; a long and straighttravellator2was directly connected to the entrance of the s.p.a.ceship. The six of them stepped onto the travellator, and holding onto the handrail, they chatted leisurely as they were swiftly carried to the entrance of the s.p.a.ceship.
They then walked off the travellator, and just as they neared the cabin door, an icy voice rang out, "Please display your boarding pa.s.s."
Inside the area right after the cabin door, a fully outfitted officer was standing. He politely saluted them and began going through the necessary pre-boarding check.
Ling Lan brought out that palm-sized acceptance letter from her pocket and pa.s.sed it to the officer.
The officer reached out his right hand for it, and then lifted his left hand as well. There was a miniature device in the palm of his left hand — Ling Lan took a glance, and immediately realised that it was the Federation"s latest data scanner model, which was also the most portable version.
Sure enough, the officer swiped Ling Lan"s acceptance letter across the scanner, and Ling Lan"s a.s.sociated data instantly appeared on the device"s screen.
When he saw the words "DATA MATCHED" appear, only then did the soldier return the acceptance letter in his hand to Ling Lan. At the same time, the data on the scanner"s screen quietly disappeared.
Somewhere internal where Ling Lan could not see, her name, which had been bright white on a registration name list, instantly turned black. Ling Lan"s data had been transmitted instantaneously to the First Men"s Military Academy"s mainframe database to form a student file.
Of course, this was also another measure by the school to prevent outsiders from sneaking in. If by any chance someone managed to forge Ling Lan"s acceptance letter and came to register, the registration list that already had Ling Lan"s name dimmed would immediately cause the other to be withheld at the door. At the same time, the registered Ling Lan"s data would be sent to the National Security Agency. The National Security Agency would then send an officer to investigate the two parties post haste to determine the truth of the matter before pa.s.sing judgement.
The reason for this strictness was entirely because the First Men"s Military Academy was the gathering grounds of the most exceptional young talents of the entire Federation. If an enemy spy managed to infiltrate the school and sabotage the students there, the Federation"s combat capability would not only be greatly reduced for about 10 years, but could even result in a discontinuation of particular legacies. This was something the Federation could not abide; therefore, the registration period for new students every year was when the National Security Agency was most pressured.
After that, Qi Long and the others all pa.s.sed through one after another, and then the six of them walked deeper inside the s.p.a.ceship. Although it was considered a small ship, it was still rather large on the inside — larger than the large cruise ships of Ling Lan"s previous world by 5 to 6 times.
They were led by a staff member of the s.p.a.ceship to a large hall. In there were many seats, but they were not arranged like the seats of aeroplanes in her previous world, row by row. Six extremely comfortable armchairs were arranged around a round table, and this formation was repeated again and again to fill the entire hall.
Ling Lan estimated that, if all the seats were filled, it would amount to 700 to 800 people. However, right now, the hall was pretty empty, not many people in there at all. It looked like it was still rather early in the registration period, so many of the students were not here yet.
Ling Lan randomly chose one of the tables near the entrance of the hall and sat down, the others moving along with her.
As time pa.s.sed, the s.p.a.ceship started to fill with students. The initially quiet hall began to grow noisy and lively as people found others familiar to them and sat together, excitement written on every youthful face. Without question, each and every one of them was full of curiosity about their new life at the military academy.
Of these students, a large majority was undoubtedly from the Central Scout Academy. As they trickled in, some of them may not have noticed Ling Lan seated among them, but as the number of people increased, some sharp-eyed students finally noticed the presence of Ling Lan who should not have appeared here. Their first action then was to rush over excitedly and greet Ling Lan — the uncrowned king Ling Lan had their unquestioning deference.
As more and more students from the Central Scout Academy found out that Ling Lan was present, they all would run over by themselves to greet her. This caused the gazes of all the students from the other scout academies to turn pensive, starting to wonder who this person really was. Why did he have such high repute, to inspire these other elite talents to offer their greetings voluntarily?
They could see very clearly that these students had not a single bit of coercion in their demeanours; they were doing this sincerely. When they returned to their own seats, the smiles on their faces were obviously brighter than before, and their conversational manner became even more natural and at ease. It was as if just by greeting that youth, their confidence had increased.
This unusual reaction caused these students who did not know Ling Lan to become cautious of her. In combination with Ling Lan"s originally cold demeanour, her expression icy and unapproachable ... no matter how you looked at it, she did not seem like someone easy to get along with.
Wu Jiong"s team and Li Yingjie"s team entered at about the same time. Originally somewhat at odds with one another, the moment they stepped into the hall, they noticed Ling Lan seated among the other students. Their complexions shifted minutely — Li Yingjie"s face turned dark and he frowned slightly, while Wu Jiong donned an expression of pleasant surprise as he walked over and said in a raised voice, "Boss Lan!"
This cry was heard by almost everyone in the hall, and caused a change to come over the expressions of those people who were already wary of Ling Lan. The words "Boss Lan" conveyed many things — strength, means, and also the ability to put pressure on them!
Any student who was accepted by the First Men"s Military Academy was definitely the cream of the crop of all the scout academies from the various cities around Doha. In their world, they were like kings, each of them leaders of a sort. The words "Boss Lan" raised their hackles instinctively, instantly turning Ling Lan into a public adversary.
Ling Lan quirked a brow and nodded, and then said calmly, "Wu Jiong, long time no see." This Wu Jiong had become really devious now! However, she had not intended to become a boss at the First Men"s Military Academy anyway, so Ling Lan, who was determined to keep a low profile, did not really mind Wu Jiong"s little manipulation. Rather, if Wu Jiong had not shown any ambition and desire to scheme, Ling Lan was more likely to have looked down on him.
"You have also come to the First Men"s Military Academy?" Ling Lan"s application to a school on planet Aureolin was known to almost everyone who paid attention to her. This question made all the other curious students who had been too afraid to ask perk up their ears, waiting for Ling Lan"s reply.
Ling Lan said breezily, "I was lucky. The military recommended me." In front of outsiders, Ling Lan made sure to protect Ling Xiao"s glorious image. Although at present these people did not know Ling Xiao was her father, Ling Lan believed that this fact would not be hidden for long. Mostly because Ling Xiao, who was eager for the whole world to know he was Ling Lan"s father, would definitely find an opportunity to declare his ident.i.ty in front of her fellow students ...
Ling Xiao had a deep resentment over how Ling Lan had kept the fact that she was Ling Xiao"s child a secret from her schoolmates for so long. Thus, Ling Lan knew that the seemingly mature and wise Ling Xiao would definitely act foolishly when it came to this matter!
Ling Lan"s reply caused the hearts of Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and those in their company to skip a beat — but it made sense once they stopped to think about it. They themselves had been witness to Ling Lan"s strength. It was reasonable to believe that the military, which had always gathered data on the top talent from the various major scout academies, would not let such an unparalleled prodigy go to waste.
After exchanging a few more words, Wu Jiong led his team members away to sit at a position close to Ling Lan"s table. On the other hand, Li Yingjie nodded stiffly at Ling Lan in greeting and then moved off to sit on another side. In contrast to Wu Jiong"s sophisticated way of handling things, Li Yingjie was obviously much more inexperienced.
Very soon, it was 12. At this time, on the four walls of the hall, four huge virtual screens appeared. On the screens, a middle-aged man with a dishevelled face and a messily put on captain"s uniform appeared.
The man snickered, and then said rudely, "You brats who are about to enter the First Men"s Military Academy, I have to tell you, we are about to depart! This journey will take 2 days and 1 night. If you get hungry, on your right-hand side, is the cafeteria catering to you lot. Eat whatever you are given, no whining and backtalk! Also, on this journey, you all have to listen to me. You do what I tell you to do. Even if you are princes or geniuses outside, here, you are just the tiniest of all tiny little worms ..."
The captain"s arrogant words caused the expressions of everyone in the hall to change. Only Ling Lan"s countenance remained unmoved; she merely continued to stare coldly at the bad-mannered, irritable s.p.a.ceship"s captain on the screen ...
The captain seemed to notice Ling Lan"s stare, for a mocking smile appeared on his lips. He swept a challenging look in her direction — though of course it could also be that he was just challenging everyone in the hall — and said, "What? You guys don"t want to? That"s fine. The crewmen under me just so happen to be so free they don"t know what to do with themselves right now, and want to loosen their bones. I"ll let them tell you lot what"s the right choice to make in this situation!"
Accompanying the captain"s words, a bevy of brutish and rowdy crewmen instantly surged out from pa.s.sages at all corners of the hall to appear before the students. Their eyes were similarly filled with taunting challenge, as if eager to find any disagreeable brat so they could flex their muscles.
A portion of the students was petrified by this sudden situation. The faint signs of rage on their faces slowly faded away as they made their way back to their own seats. It could be said that they were extremely rational, unwillingto become the chicken killed as a lesson to the monkeys3.
Qi Long, who was sitting beside Ling Lan, leaned close to Ling Lan and asked quietly, "Should I go teach them a lesson?" The other party"s high-handedness rubbed Qi Long the wrong way. More importantly, this scamp"s fists were starting to itch for a good fight.
Of course, Qi Long had also volunteered because he had confidence in himself. He had received focused instruction from Ling Lan since young, and he had also trained desperately to improve his skills in those three years when Ling Lan had not been around. Moreover, two months before this, he had also went on that high-risk interplanetary adventure. Having been through all this, he was no longer the unpolished fighter he had been before.
学海星: This one was tricky for me. The literal meaning of the name of this planet is "sea of knowledge/learning". For those interested, it would have been p.r.o.nounced "planet Xuehai" if I stuck with pinyin.a.k.a. a moving walkway, or a conveyor belt which people step on.i.e. be made an example of for the other students to see. This idiom is literally translated as "kill chicken scare monkey" (杀鸡儆猴). The story goes that a street performer had a monkey that was disobedient and would not perform. So, he went to the market, bought a chicken, and killed the chicken in front of the monkey"s eyes. After that, recognising the threat, the monkey behaved.