Chapter 723: Oppression! Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Little White"s chubby body flopped around. At the same time, it clung on Ling Lan"s hand and began to rub against it. It hoped Ling Lan would let him off easy this time.
Ling Lan glanced at it coldly and then continued to read through the information on her communicator, no longer paying attention to it.
Little White instantly lowered its head down depressingly after it saw its 100% effective cutesy move had failed. It crawled up Ling Lan"s shoulder weakly and curled up there without moving a muscle. It would be looking for a death wish if it continued to try to get on Ling Lan"s good side, since Ling Lan had already given it a warning.
Qiao Ting took his men and walked around the streets. Of course, they weren"t there to buy anything, but instead they had received a mission from their regiment commander. Their mission was to stop those from 250 Mecha Clan. Of course, Qiao Ting"s regiment commander"s target was Gu Dongyang. This made Qiao Ting become curious about what kind of resentment did his regiment commander harbor against Gu Dongyang. Gu Dongyang had only just appeared and his regiment commander couldn"t wait to get information on him.
Although he couldn"t refuse the mission given by his regiment commander, Qiao Ting didn"t actually want to do this mission. Thus, he didn"t go to the area where men liked to shop, but instead came to the shopping district for women.
"Captain Qiao, are you to buy something nice for your significant other at home?" A member saw Qiao Ting had brought them here and had an understanding expression. He pointed to a shop and smirked.
In the past three years, Qiao Ting became very close with his team members. Ever since he lost to Ling Lan, Qiao Ting stopped being a lone wolf. Even though he still spoke little to no words, he was still different from the time when he was in the academy. The difference was like heaven and earth. This made him face less problems and issues in the army. He quickly got used to it and formed good relationships with these veterans mecha operators.
Qiao Ting sent a glance towards the shop and couldn"t help but swear, "Sh*t". It turns out inside the shop that the veteran pointed at, Qiao Ting actually saw a familiar face behind the gla.s.s… Luo Lang!
No, he saw that person standing close to another girl. Qiao Ting instantly remembered that person was probably not Ling Lan"s right-hand man, Luo Lang. Instead, it was the legendary Luo Lang"s younger twin sister, Luo Chao.
Having Ling Lan as his rival for life, he, of course, would have information of his subordinates. Qiao Ting felt his head throbbing in pain. He wanted to avoid Ling Lan, but G.o.d wouldn"t let him do that. He just walked around randomly and managed to find Ling Lan"s members…
Qiao Ting was still thinking whether he should pretend not to have seen them and instantly turn around to leave the area. His comrades on the other hand, were staring at the girls by the window. They felt their hearts were pierced by an arrow of love and were instantly excited to go up to them and introduce themselves.
In their eyes, Qiao Ting was a genius whose future held no bounds. If the girls inside the shop could marry Qiao Ting, it would definitely be an honor for them. These girls would definitely not think about rejecting someone of this caliber.
Just like that, Qiao Ting was dragged into the shop by his comrades, which didn"t give any chance to make an excuse to leave.
Luo Chao and Han Xuya were shopping excitedly. They suddenly felt the shop being intruded by many people and, Luo Chao raised her head. She saw seven or eight military officers walking towards them with eerie smiles on their faces. They exuded the intention of surrounding them.
Luo Chao panicked. She immediately pulled on Han Xuya, who hadn"t noticed them. Han Xuya turned around anxiously. After seeing those military officers, her face instantly steeled and she pushed Luo Chao behind her to protect her.
Those military officers were mostly senior captains. The youngest officer in the group was actually the highest ranked, a major. Those officers didn"t seem to be malicious and was just looking at them with smiles on their faces. They would then exchange looks with the young major from time to time.
Han Xuya glared angrily at the young major, who had irritated look on his face. She suddenly discovered that this person seemed very familiar. Han Xuya immediately widened her eyes and shouted in surprise, "Qiao Ting!"
Han Xuya loved gossip and stories. After returning to Lingtian Battle clan, Han Xuya was very interested in Ling Lan"s time in the First Men"s Military Academy. From gathering little bits of gossip, she managed to know of all the glorious achievements Lingtian Battle Clan had achieved in the First Men"s Military Academy. Of course, some of the gossip she gathered was for her best friend, Luo Chao.
The only reason Han Xuya had remembered Qiao Ting was because she knew Qiao Ting was her Boss"s only rival within the military academy. She also knew that during the Grand Mecha Tournament when Ling Lan led the clan as the regiment commander, Qiao Ting fell into Ling Lan"s trap and became the deputy regiment commander back in the day. She and Luo Chao had a chance to partic.i.p.ate in the event and thus saw how Qiao Ting looked in real life.
Qiao Ting smiled bitterly in his heart. As expected, he was recognized by them. Of course, his expression the outside was still calm and he nodded towards Han Xuya, "Second lieutenant, it"s been a long time."
Qiao Ting"s team members who stood beside him had a surprised look on their faces. "So he knew them~Captain Qiao definitely has a crush on one of them for a long time. Wonder which one it is? Is it the cool-looking girl in the front or was it the soft and shy girl in the back?" They began to think wildly.
"It"s been a long time indeed. Who knew we would see you here. Are you here to buy something or…" Han Xuya watched Qiao Ting cautiously and began thinking whether Qiao Ting came to find her Boss. Additionally, she was also on her guard against him because he might take them as hostages to fight against her Boss…
Han Xuya seemed to be brash and forthright on the outside, but it was clearly contradictory to her personality, which was overly cautious.
"Of course, he came here to find you." Before Qiao Ting could answer, one of the 30-year-old senior captains replied with a smile.
"Qiao Ting doesn"t speak much. If he wants to get a girl, it would be somewhat difficult. As a good comrade, they have to at least help him. Since Qiao Ting doesn"t dare to say it," thought the senior captain who spoke up.
"As expected, they didn"t have any good intentions!" Han Xuya"s eyes steeled and went into a defensive position. As long as they had the thought of attacking them, she would immediately counterattack. However, her words were still the same, "Qiao Ting, the Boss is on the second floor. If you want to find him, then you can go straight to the second floor. What kind of man are you to mess with women like us?"
Luo Chao also felt something was off and silently took out a few tranquilisers. If those men moved oddly ever so slightly, she would give them one or two darts. They shouldn"t think they could bully them just because they were women.
Han Xuya and Luo Chao weren"t scared because their Boss was here. As long as they hold off their first attack, their Boss would most definitely run to save them. They were very trusting of Ling Lan in that aspect.
After hearing frustration from the words of the two girls, Qiao Ting"s comrades felt something was off. One of them silently pulled on Qiao Ting"s sleeve and softly asked, "Captain, are they not the girls you like?" Who is this "Boss" they spoke of?
Qiao Ting smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Of course not. I have something against their Boss…"
"Rival?" Qiao Ting"s comrades" expression instantly changed. The easygoing atmosphere instantly evaporated. Ling Lan was now their rival as well since he was their captain"s rival.
"Yes, my rival," Qiao Ting nodded. This was something that could not be changed. Qiao Ting no longer wanted to hide it from them. After all, they would probably work together with him in the same mecha clan after they return to the 3rd Division.
"Is he really strong?" When Qiao Ting first entered into the 3rd Division, he was already an elite ace. He was nurtured by the higher-ups of the 3rd Division. Someone he considered as his rival should definitely be quite capable.
"Stronger than me!" Qiao Ting tried his best to make sure his face didn"t twitch. It was the first time he had lost and he lost badly. If it was possible, he didn"t want to mention it again. However, Qiao Ting wasn"t someone who hides his past. He told his comrades the real events of the past since they had asked him.
Qiao Ting"s words made everyone"s eyes widen. Stronger than Qiao Ting?
"Also a military academy cadet? Same year? No, probably not the same year. You are the strongest from the First Men"s Military Academy in that year." One of the senior captains began to count his fingers and tried to guess the situation of the Qiao Ting"s rival.
"The strongest? Back then, I was just a frog in a well. Their Boss had defeated me when he was only in his second year while I was in my fifth year. That"s right, my rival is younger than me by three years, but he is stronger than me." Qiao Ting told the truth to his confused team members.
"No, how is that possible?" Everyone began to shout in surprise. Wouldn"t a monster like that instantly enter the Flying Dragon Special Forces? Why would someone like that appear in the world of commoners?
Those who could enter the stationed army all knew some secrets that were not publicly information in the military. For example, there were two ways of entering the Flying Dragon Special Forces. One was to be picked out from billions of people. These types of members were considered outer circle members and couldn"t enter the core of the Flying Dragon Special Forces. The real core of the Flying Dragon Special Forces were monsters they nurture from when they were very young. In other words, a random person from that group would surpa.s.s Qiao Ting"s existence. However, Flying Dragon Special Forces"s level was too high and wasn"t something such low ranked officers such as themselves could touch upon. Thus, they could only gossip about it and couldn"t see it for their own eyes.
"I never believed it back then, but in reality, monsters really do exist…" Qiao Ting replied softly. Although he knew many secrets after entering the division including how there were many other monsters like Ling Lan that existed, Qiao Ting still felt those monsters had nothing to do with him. Ling Lan was the sole person that had defeated in his entire life.
Qiao Ting"s words made everyone"s sights turn back onto Han Xuya and Luo Chao, making the two of them panic. Although the conversation between Qiao Ting"s group made them understand it wasn"t what they had thought, they still broke the peace. Now, the two girls didn"t know whether they would take ruthless measures to take revenge.
Originally, the group thought that Qiao Ting had someone he liked among the two girls and didn"t measure the girls" abilities. Now that they knew these two were subordinates of a monster, a few eyes instantly sized up Han Xuya and Luo Chao.
"The physical skills of these two girls actually reached the refinement stage. As expected, the subordinates of a monster isn"t too bad." One of the senior captain"s eyes glimmered. He wanted to see the monster Qiao Ting had mentioned, who was the Boss of these two girls.
At that moment, a cold voice rang from behind them, "Qiao Ting, you have a problem with my team members?"
Qiao Ting"s body trembled fiercely. He turned around instantly and saw Ling Lan standing high above the staircase on the second floor. He was glaring at him coldly as though a king was looking down at his subjects, releasing his regal aura.
"He became stronger again." Qiao Ting"s expression changed slightly. Although Qiao Ting knew that in three years time, Ling Lan would definitely become stronger. It was just when the truth was in front of him, he still felt depressed about it. The result, he worked hard to get for three years, seemed to not make him get ahead. Luckily, he was not left in the dust either.
"Ling Lan, I didn"t think we would be able to meet here after three years." Qiao Ting instantly steeled himself and broke free from the pressure Ling Lan exerted purposefully. He then replied calmly.
Ling Lan didn"t answer. She walked down the stairs lightly step by step. Each step seemed easy, but each step was stepping on the hearts of Qiao Ting"s group. A few of the weaker ones even had hallucinations about their hearts being trampled by Ling Lan…
Feeling that his team members were in trouble, Qiao Ting"s aura exploded outwards in an attempt to quell the aura Ling Lan had sent towards them.
Qiao Ting thought that he would be injured. However, when his aura exploded, it didn"t clash with Ling Lan"s aura. That was because his aura didn"t hit anything. Qiao Ting"s body trembled fiercely, causing him to almost fall over. Luckily, Qiao Ting"s basic physical skills were solid which gave him the chance to balance his lower body.
"Compared to three years ago, you"ve grown much stronger," a voice rang from behind Qiao Ting.
Qiao Ting turned immediately. No one knew when Ling Lan had arrived behind him, which was where Han Xuya and Luo Chao were.
"Compared to three years ago, you"ve gotten much stronger as well." Qiao Ting knew he had lost again but didn"t want to give in to his opponent. The control Ling Lan had on his aura had already reached the stage of Purity. Qiao Ting was much worse in this area compared to Ling Lan.
"It seemed that you"re doing well for yourself," Ling Lan looked at Qiao Ting"s insignia and said.
"Still can"t compare to you. Becoming major in your first year and then a regiment commander." Qiao Ting hated this fact. If this person didn"t exist, his achievements would definitely be the top among those around him. However, with this person around, all that he achieved seemed to be not enough.
"My luck is quite good," Ling Lan replied. With her own father helping her and in addition to the time in the military academy, where she somehow managed to complete a legendary mission which accidentally made her team into a five star battle team. This gave her a higher starting point than other military academy cadets. Of course, her comrades were also quite strong. They number of ace operators they had already reached the requirements for a four star battle team. This made her Lingtian Battle Clan acquire their first four star battle team mission.
All of this made her shorten the time she needed to work for her achievements. Ling Lan thought about it and felt that luck was something she could not live without, for her to have gotten to her current position.
To Qiao Ting, Ling Lan"s honest words were just for show. He was also quite lucky, but why couldn"t he achieve Ling Lan"s achievements?
Seeing Qiao Ting"s inconsiderate expression, Ling Lan knew Qiao Ting didn"t believe her words. She didn"t continue speaking about the subject. She immediately pointed towards the two girls, Han Xuya and Luo Chao, who hid behind her pretending to be weak, "Enough of that. Tell me, what"s this all about?"
"I saw people I recognized and came to greet them? What, I can"t do that?" Ling Lan questioning damaged Qiao Ting"s pride. He also replied coldly.