Ling Lan"s words made Han Jijyun, Luo Lang and others tremble. They knew why Boss was doing this, and now they only hoped that Qi Long wouldn"t lose too badly in the round-robin fights.Everyone knew clearly that the freshmen, who were rid of their worries, would definitely not give up on the chance to reach the top. The round-robin fights had become a reality.
As expected, after a few seconds, a freshman jumped up to the stage. His face showed a hint of shame, but he still spoke out his objective; the freshman respectfully bowed to Qi Long and said, "I am w.a.n.g Ruoxu from Planet Qinhuang. Please go easy on me, Commander Qi!"
"Go ahead!" Qi Long replied, taking a deep breath. Wearing the color of determination on his face, he gestured him to start. This decision of Ling Lan"s wouldn"t make Qi Long actually resent her; he believed that there was definitely a deeper meaning to Boss" decision. He just had to work hard and finish the mission that Boss had given him.
This w.a.n.g Ruoxu attacked crazily right from the beginning. Unfortunately, having only reached the peak of the late stages of Qi-Jin, the pressure he gave Qi Long wasn"t as much as compared to w.a.n.g Ke. After carefully defending for around 3 minutes, Qi Long had acc.u.mulated a certain amount of Qi-Jin, found the opponent"s weak spot and struck him off the arena.
Two more freshmen went up onto the arena in immediate succession; however, Qi Long fought with patience. With no energy left, Qi Long used his strong body to defend. Once he acc.u.mulated a small amount of Qi-Jin, he would find his opponent"s weak spot and defeat them. Qi Long fought in a very calm and collected manner. The freshmen couldn"t find a chance to win at that moment.
However, having to face so many people consecutively had pushed Qi Long"s already exhausted body towards its limit even more. If he didn"t have his spiritual power helping him endure it all, it was possible that he might not even have been able to raise his fists.
The sharper individuals had already discovered that Qi Long was now spent. Another freshman jumped up onto the arena…
"Captain, this a chance," Yi Tiange whispered to Ling Yi.
"You want me to go up and defeat Commander Qi Long?" Ling Yi asked coldly.
"Yes. w.a.n.g Ke already made Commander Qi Long show his limit. Additionally, the round-robin fights that these people made him go through has already squeezed out the last bit of energy from Commander Qi Long. If you go up now, with your capabilities, you should be able to defeat him." Yi Tiange spoke out his thoughts.
Ling Yi went silent and looked at Qi Long, who had already reached his limit yet wasn"t showing a hint of it on his expression; he was still determined to face his new opponent. His calmness and composure along with his unyielding expression moved Ling Yi"s heart…
"Captain, this is a good chance. If you win, Commander Ling said that he would give us the treatment of a frontline battle team. It"ll be very good for the growth of our battle team." Rong Ziruo also agreed with Yi Tiange"s opinion.
Yan Wuyou smiled but didn"t say anything; however, his eyes showed that he also agreed. On the other side, the other person in the battle team, Tao Xiaotao, was concentrated on the fight and didn"t even notice that his teammates were in the middle of deciding something that could affect the future of their battle team. Of course, his teammates hadn"t intended on asking for his opinions in the first place. In the battle team, Tao Xiaotao"s opinions could be ignored.
Ling Yi finally spoke, his expression holding a hint of coldness and also a hint of pride. "I know that you guys are right, but I just don"t want to."
Yi Tiange showed a hint of regret on his face as he looked at Rong Ziruo and silently sighed. His captain was good in every way, except that he was simply too righteous and didn"t want to do things that he thought to be unfair.
"I know that Commander Qi Long"s body is at the brink of collapse and now is the best chance to defeat him. But can"t you guys see that even though it"s so hard for him, Commander Qi Long still hasn"t shown a hint of weakness? He"s still remaining calm and composed, still fighting without giving any openings. He"s using his spiritual power to force himself to continue fighting in order to prove to us that he isn"t someone that will be defeated by despicable methods! He"s a real fighter. This type of fighter should be respected by us instead of becoming our stepping stone and being stomped on by us as we climb up the ladder. If I really did do something like this, I would feel very ashamed of myself. Even if we"d be treated like a front line battle team because of this, I wouldn"t be able to raise my head when facing the other members of Lingtian," Ling Yi explained without hesitation.
Hearing Ling Yi"s righteousness in his words, Yi Tiange showed smirk on his face. It was this Ling Yi that had made them submit. Even if there were enough benefits, when Ling Yi believed that it shouldn"t be done, he would be able to withstand the temptation and stand his ground. Only this kind of captain would give them confidence that when they were faced with danger in the future, he wouldn"t abandon his comrades and would fight alongside them.
Yi Tiange smiled and replied, "Since you"ve already said so much, then we"ll definitely support you!"
Rong Ziruo and Yan Wuyou exchanged a look before they too nodded firmly and said, "Yes, we support you!"
Yi Tiange thought the same as they did as well. Although this kind of captain would lose their battle team many chances for promotion, the same benefits might cause them to end up in a dangerous situation. It was both a good and bad thing. Comparatively, they were more willing to accept a captain like Ling Yi. He made them feel confident with him backing them up.
In the arena, Qi Long had defeated another freshman. Tao Xiaotao"s eyes had returned from watching the fight and he heard the voices of his teammates coming from beside him. He turned around in confusion and asked with a confused expression, "What were you guys agreeing about?"
Yan Wuyou wore a smile as he held out his right hand to turn Tao Xiaotao"s face back towards. "Xiaotao, just watch. What we"re talking about has nothing do with you."
Tao Xiaotao replied in dismay, "You guys always have things to say and never want to share it with me. I"m not going to ignore you guys and just watch. Oh, another person went up. How many does that make? I pity Commander Qi Long."
It turned out that while they were talking, another freshman had challenged Qi Long. The bait that Ling Lan had set was sufficient to draw in the freshmen and make them continuously challenge Qi Long.
Seeing this, Ling Yi walked up to stand before the optical supercomputer. He was waiting for Qi Long to defeat this challenger, after which he would input in his own name for the evaluation battle.
"Who do you guys think the captain is going to challenge?" Yi Tiange asked Rong Ziruo while gazing at Ling Yi.
Rong Ziruo replied with a smile, "You and I both know. Do you really need to ask?"
"I don"t know, but I keep feeling that our captain is going to be disappointed this time," Yi Tiange said as if in deep thought.
"What kind of person do you think Commander Ling Lan is?" Rong Ziruo suddenly asked.
Yi Tiange thought carefully before replying, "I saw him once during the award ceremony in last year"s Grand Mecha Tournament. He seemed to be very cold and cool at first glance. At second second glance, he seemed to be very dominant…"
"A few days ago, I caught a glimpse of Commander Ling Lan from afar." Rong Ziruo"s smile had disappeared as he spoke. "He discovered me looking at him and looked me back in the eye." A layer of sweat had actually formed on his forehead by the end of his words.
Rong Ziruo"s odd behavior made Yi Tiange"s expression become serious. The latter asked, "How was it?"
"That look of his made me feel as though my entire body had become frozen. In that instant, I thought I died," Rong Ziruo replied with a pale face. "It was as though thousands of years had pa.s.sed. By the time my consciousness returned, 10 minutes had already pa.s.sed, and Commander Ling Lan was nowhere in sight."
"He is someone that I"ve met who is the most dominant and strong out of everyone I know. Do you still remember the captain of the ship that took us to the First Men"s Military Academy? Our guess was that his level of Qi-Jin had peaked at the stage of Great Perfection. However, the feeling that the captain of that ship gave me was far weaker than that of Commander Ling Lan"s."
"He"s really that strong!" Yi Tiange exclaimed with a serious expression.
"He"s really strong, unfathomably strong," Rong Ziruo confirmed with a bitter smile. "Even I couldn"t believe my own senses, but at that time, that was how I really felt."
"Captain, if you really choose Commander Ling Lan… I hope you won"t lose too badly," Rong Ziruo said to himself. He was afraid that the captain might lose his confidence after being beaten. Truly strong people could not be pursued by others.
Hearing this, Yi Tiange went silent. He now hoped that someone could be sign up faster than his captain. Then at least his captain would be beaten a bit later by Commander Ling Lan.
In the arena, Qi Long had once again defeated a freshman who had challenged him. This time, however, he had spent almost 15 minutes in taking victory. Ever since Qi Long had defeated w.a.n.g Ke, every time he defeated a challenger, the time he took in doing so increased. This also meant that he truly had almost reached his limit. It was just that they didn"t know when he would completely collapse.
When the freshman jumped off the arena, Ling Yi, who was already ready, decisively pressed down on the confirm b.u.t.ton for the evaluation.
"Ling Yi, a commoner from Puyi Scout Academy (Third-cla.s.s planet, Planet Puzhe). Physical Skills: Qi-Jin Beginner Level. Mecha World Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced!" Ling Yi"s information was sent to the observation room through the optical supercomputer, and his data made the captains all gasp in disbelief. Compared to w.a.n.g Ke, Ling Yi surprised them even more. After all, Ling Yi did come from a third-cla.s.s planet; it was very difficult for people from there to get into the First Men"s Military Academy. He had managed to get admitted to the First Men"s Military Academy, and even his capabilities ranked among the top of the freshmen.
"The opponent he has chosen is… Ling Lan! Boss!" Everyone in the observation room gasped in surprise. They didn"t think that someone would be so daring as to actually challenge the strongest individual in their mecha clan. Did he not know that Boss Lan"s physical skills was definitely the best in the entire military academy? He had defeated the previous top-ranked physical skills expert, Huo Zhenyu, in his first year. He was deemed as the most domineering individual in terms of physical skills throughout entire First Men"s Military Academy.
Ling Lan saw this notification and struck her armrest with great force. Luo Lang could clearly see that a crack had appeared in the armrest"s hard metallic surface. It looked Ling Yi"s accidental disruption in her plan had made Ling Lan angry. Qi Long had been about to reach his limit and could have been on the verge of death at any moment, but now it had all gone to waste.
As long as Qi Long was given time to rest, if she wanted to push him to his current state again, he would have to have many times the amount of people fight him to achieve the state. Not only that, she was afraid that once Qi Long calmed down, he would understand why she made such plans. Once he made preparations, it would be impossible to have him become unconscious and on the verge of death. In other words, the hardships that Qi Long had endured beforehand was all for naught.
At the same time, this also meant that it would be no longer possible to use fighting amongst themselves to help him reach his limit. Having prepared, if she had used the same method in the future, she would not be able to make Qi Long be on the verge of death. If Qi Long wanted to find a new way of advancing, he would need to find another shortcut. However, it was a known fact that shortcuts were discovered through luck while thinking on it day and night. To find a new way, she didn"t know how long he would have to wait and didn"t know whether that kind of chance would appear again.
This was why Ling Lan was angry. The hope that she saw was instantly destroyed by Ling Yi. Ling Yi interfering by making a challenge had completely messed up Ling Lan"s plan.
"I should have just choked him to death back then!" Ling Lan uttered, biting her lip.