"Tell them the truth," Zhao Jun said nonchalantly."Do you think they will believe me? Will they believe that a few harmless agents could produce such a huge explosion?" Li Lanfeng continued frowning. Although the reorganization had resulted in a change in the leaders of the 23rd Division, Li Lanfeng was not certain if the people that wanted to harm them were all kicked out. If one of them were still present, he would definitely make an issue out of this and then they would be in trouble.
"Didn"t our boss tell us to call that number if we face some real trouble?" Zhao Jun didn"t have as many reservations as Li Lanfeng, as his boss was the heir of the 23rd Division. As long as he was in the right, he was not afraid of them.
Li Lanfeng sighed heavily when he saw Li Shiyu"s happy face. Li Shiyu had found what he wanted. Li Lanfeng didn"t want to use the protection that the rabbit had given them. He didn"t want the rabbit to feel that he was useless. However, he would not give up this protection just to save his face—the safety of his friends was more important.
At the mention of his boss, Zhao Jun recalled how Lingtian had unified the military academy in the previous year. He said excitedly, "I didn"t expect the boss to unify the military academy last year and become the king of the academy. I knew that our boss would make a better king than Qiao Ting."
Li Lanfeng heart stopped. Looked more like a king than Qiao Ting? However, after a while, he smiled. The rabbit was his benefactor. The latter had helped him with his poor health and granted him the chance to become a strong person. Although he had a cold att.i.tude, Li Lanfeng could still feel the concern in his heart. He was not concerned about Li Yinfei"s looks either…
Li Lanfeng"s smile grew wider at this thought. It was not him! He believed the rabbit.
Li Lanfeng and his friends started dealing with the investigation by the investigation team from the 23rd Division. On the other side of things, Ling Lan"s comrades managed to improve their physique tremendously after enduring Ling Lan"s h.e.l.l training. Satisfied, Ling Lan began to torture them with her mecha. Ling Lan"s mecha piloting skills had reached a new height and so her team members got to experience what it was like to be at the brink of death. Under such a stressful environment, Qi Long managed to advance to become an ace operator. Of course, before Qi Long advanced, Ling Lan announced her ace operator status first.
Although she didn"t break the record left by Ling Xiao and Qiao Ting for the fastest advancement to ace rank, she was already considered outstanding to be able to become an ace operator in the second half of the year. No one would belittle Ling Lan just because she didn"t break the record. Qi Long"s advancement took away some attention from Ling Lan, but this was what she wanted; she didn"t want to have too much attention to herself.
By the time their fourth year ended, Luo Lang and Xie Yi had managed to advance, while Wu Jiong advanced in the first half of their fifth year. The First Men"s Military Academy had five ace mecha masters now and the higher authorities of the school were elated. The new Grand Mecha Tournament had started so with five ace mecha masters in their hands and thus the First Men"s Military Academy was confident that they would get first place.
However, when the school personnel saw the candidates list sent to them by Lingtian, they were shocked. The team leader was not Ling Lan—it was Qi Long. The a.s.sistant leader was Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie. Ling Lan was not in the list at all.
They wanted to find Ling Lan to question her about why she was not partic.i.p.ating, but she went into closed-door meditation again. The higher authorities of the school couldn"t do anything to her. Closed-door meditation was a crucial process for the advancement of the cadets. Nothing was more important than this, not even the Grand Mecha Tournament.
Hence, Wu Jiong and Qi Long led the elites from all the different specializations to partic.i.p.ate in the Grand Mecha Tournament. This was the first time they led so many people without Ling Lan. Everyone performed very well, especially Li Yingjie; he managed to enter the top 8 in the single mecha combat event and fought an opponent of the First Co-ed Military Academy who had just advanced to ace level. Although he lost in the end, Li Yingjie managed to become an ace mecha operator after this match.
From that day onwards, the Grand Mecha Tournament became the stage for the First Men"s Military Academy to perform on. The top 4 were all from the First Men"s Military Academy; however, this was not the end. In the group mecha combat event that started thereafter, Li Yingjie got onto the ace balanced mecha which belonged to Ling Lan, who had planned for this mecha to be transported to the site of the compet.i.tion before she started her closed-door mediation.
Thus, the First Men"s Military Academy became the only team in the Grand Mecha Tournament to have 5 ace mecha masters in their team and they caused a huge uproar among the crowd. The team went through the compet.i.tion without facing any difficulties. No one could cause any trouble to the First Men"s Military Academy—they easily obtained first place in the group mecha combat event.
Ths compet.i.tion destroyed the morale of all the other military academies. Han Jijyun"s plan was to let the 5 ace mecha masters lead a team each and destroy all the military academies that posed a threat to them. However, as the base camp location could be changed, the First Men"s Military Academy only took down the Third Men"s Military Academy. The Second Men"s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy managed to run away. These two schools maintained the lowest score required and didn"t get kicked out of the match. They were already very happy with these results. After all, the First Men"s Military Academy was too powerful this year and were not on the same level at all. They admitted their defeat.
However, the overall points that they achieved were still lesser than Ling Lan"s team last time. It was not easy to get the 10,000 points for discovering the secret of the movement of the base camp. They might have been able to break Ling Lan"s record if they had eliminated the Second Men"s Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy, but there was no second chance. Everyone knew that it would be difficult for anyone to break the record in the next 100 years.
Han Jijyun felt the need to commend Ling Yi"s performance, as his team was the one that eliminated the Third Men"s Military Academy"s base camp. As the only third-year team leader, his abilities were as good as those older leaders and he had an all-rounded team. Han Jijyun realized that there was at least one military strategist in Ling Yi"s team and that the overall ability of its members was strong. He felt that this allocation was similar to their battle team.
Han Jijyun didn"t know whether it was a coincidence, or if Ling Yi was intentionally imitating them, but it did not prevent Han Jijyun from taking a fancy on Ling Yi. He even felt that once all of the older cadets entered the 23rd Division, Ling Yi would be a great successor.
The Lingtian Mecha Clan came back with many achievements, but before they could have the time to be excited, Ling Lan and the others in her year needed to prepare for the evaluation by the 23rd Division. The cadets who were in the same year as Ling Lan knew that she was going to register for the 23rd Division and so they chose to register for the same division as her—the regiment commander of the 23rd Division was their idol as well. Besides those cadets who needed to go to a certain division due to their family or faction, almost everyone registered for the 23rd Division. The examiners for the 23rd Division were delighted.
Although Ling Xiao had managed to build up the reputation of the 23rd Division and the military had given them priority in filling up their members, the division lacked middle-rank officers to lead their soldiers. They needed outstanding cadets to fill up these positions.
For a division to operate smoothly, the most important factor was these middle-rank officers. These officers needed to have a vast amount of knowledge, powerful abilities, and a good personality. The cadets that the military academy trained for more than four years were the best candidates for these positions.
Ling Xiao heaved a sigh of relief when he knew that the most important problem of the 23rd Division was solved. He knew that these cadets registered for the 23rd Division because of his daughter. His daughter is indeed an amazing person.
He Xuyang looked at the proud expression on General Ling Xiao"s face and knew that his general was thinking of Master Lan again. They had been feeling frustration regarding this issue, when Master Lan gave them so many outstanding cadets to solve their problem. Master Lan was absolutely impressive. If Master Lan was his child, he might have had an even more exaggerated expression than General Ling Xiao. He would most likely have flashed happy smiles at others and told everyone that Master Lan was his child.
He Xuyang suddenly felt that he should not reject his mother when she arranged a blind date for him next time. If he could have a cute baby and nurtured the baby into a talent, it would be a happy thing, too.
Hence, the head chief of staff started looking for love…
Due to the influence of Ling Lan, this batch of cadets were all quite strong. Very few of them got kicked out.
When it was time to leave, everyone was filled with reluctance. Those who were going to enter the 23rd Division didn"t have many emotions, but for those that had to go to other divisions, they felt depressed. Wu Jiong was one of them.
The Wu family had always supported the 15th Division. As the direct descendant of the Wu family, Wu Jiong had to go to the 15th Division. He had known from the start that the 15th Division was his future and he was ready for it.
He had thought that he would be able to bid farewell to Ling Lan with a smile, but when he stood at Ling Lan"s living room and saw Ling Lan, who was wearing the 23rd Division uniform and drinking a cup of hot tea, Wu Jiong suddenly didn"t want to say goodbye anymore.
Wu Jiong wished that he could have entered the 23rd Division with Ling Lan, if he had the choice. He believed that with Ling Lan around, the journey in the 23rd Division would be exciting. They would have many achievements and he wanted to experience all these.
However, the 15th Division needed him. He had to go over and take control of the 15th Division. When a family reached this stage, they didn"t have any room for retreat. Once they retreated, their whole family might be gone. Wu Jiong was the most outstanding direct descendant and his grandfather had high hopes for him. He couldn"t disappoint his family. Wu Jiong knew that he had too many people in his heart and so he couldn"t be as wilful as Li Yingjie.
The Li family had influence in both the 4th Division and 5th Division. Li Yingjie"s grandfather had previously had plans to send him to the 4th Division, which was the strongest army division among the 19 divisions that the Federation had. The Li family definitely hoped that one of their direct descendants could enter the division and grow to become a high-rank officer.
However, Li Yingjie was an arrogant, willful and disobedient child. He registered for the 23rd Division without informing his family. According to what he said: if his second oldest brother could go to the 23rd Division, why couldn"t he?
Li Shiyu became implicated for no reason, but the Li family couldn"t do anything to Li Shiyu. He was a highly recognized military doctor in the 23rd Division division now and even General Ling Xiao commended him personally. The Li family could not force him to do anything.
The Li family thought about pulling some tricks to get Li Yingjie into the 4th Division, but when they remembered how stubborn he was, they gave up on this idea. They had no choice but to accept the fact that their two most outstanding direct descendants were s.n.a.t.c.hed away by Ling Xiao"s 23rd Division.
As for Li Mulan, he would continue resting at planet Azure. The Li family could afford to raise this disabled person.
Ling Lan looked carefree. She had packed all her things. Her backpack was still the same. She took whatever things she brought in last time. The only thing different was the white color of her uniform which represented a valedictorian.
Ling Lan saw Wu Jiong standing at the entrance and nodded slightly at him. "You"re here."
Ling Lan knew that he would come to bid her farewell. After all, they were from the same Special Cla.s.s-A.
"Boss… I am going to the 15th Division." Wu Jiong paused after calling out to his boss and only managed to say this sentence.
Qi Long smiled at his words. The moment Wu Jiong registered, they knew that he would go to the 15th Division. Besides, he was wearing the recruit uniform of the 15th Division.
Qi Long"s smile caused Wu Jiong to blush. He knew that it was a stupid thing to say.
"The 15th Division is where people of the Wu family always go. I knew that you would be going there," Ling Lan said, calmly placing the teacup in her hand onto the table. She rubbed her hands before continuing, "This is good, too. When you become a high-ranking officer in your division, we"ll be able to work together again."
Wu Jiong"s eyes lit up. His boss was right. Separating now didn"t mean that there would be no chance to work with his boss anymore.
"Work hard to rise up in rank. I hope that when I become an officer with my own team, I"ll be able to find someone to work with." Ling Lan looked at Wu Jiong with a composed expression, but her eyes were still sharp. Wu Jiong felt stress. He felt an oppressive aura coming towards him and knew that his boss had become stronger. His sorrow at having to leave was gone and he only felt the urge to complete the promise between him and Ling Lan.
"I understand. Boss, when you need me, I will be there for you," Wu Jiong replied firmly, standing up straight. This was his reply. He wanted to tell Ling Lan that even without her guidance, he would continue to have a goal and work hard towards it.
"It"s a promise then." Ling Lan smiled. The oppressive aura around her disappeared and she reached out her hand.
Wu Jiong heaved a sigh of relief secretly and clapped Ling Lan"s hand.
Promise!
They had formed an alliance even before they officially became part of their respective divisions. This signified that they would be trustworthy brothers-in-arms for the rest of their life.
The military vessels that came to pick them up all arrived at the same time. When they officially stepped onto the military vessel, they would not be able to see each other for a long time. Wu Jiong controlled the tears in his eyes and turned around.
Boss, thank you for the 14 years of companionship. Thank you for your selfless guidance all these years, even though it might have been because you were afraid that we would pull you down! Boss, thank you for leading us in creating miracles one after another and letting me understand that my vision should be wider and further!
Boss, thank you! I, Wu Jiong, will be your brother forever! Our relationship will never change!