Chapter 1166 He Is Little Brother Shaoyun!
Major General Bai wouldn’t just accept any contradicting evidence presented before him without verifying it first even though it aligned with his wishes, even if it was from a major general.
He contacted the hackers from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee to examine Ling Lan’s video evidence.
The entire conference room was dead-silent. Even those people who had dubious intentions didn’t dare to make a sense in front of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee.
After hearing Major General Bai’s acknowledgement of her evidence, Ling Lan walked back to her seat and closed her eyes calmly.
Her calmness in the midst of a mess received a good impression on the soldiers around her, even Major General Bai gave her a look of approval.
However, he couldn’t help but remember what his chief had told him before coming to the conference room.
“No matter how Ling Lan reacts, you must control the situation. Try to drag the time for as long as you can.” This sentence showed the stance of the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee. They didn’t care whether Ling Lan killed prisoners mercilessly or not. They just didn’t want to declare her guilty.
The Disciplinary and Investigation Committee had investigated all kinds of crimes within the military, and they were known for their ruthlessness in doing so. They would rather mistakenly kill a suspect than to let go of any suspicious suspects.
Plus, they didn’t have much of a choice to not be so, as most of the people they had investigated were powerful people in the military. Some might even control a part of the military. So, if they weren’t vicious enough to people of such high caliber, how could they protect the rights of a normal soldier?
Moreover, the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee only sided the soldiers from the Federation. As for their enemies, it had nothing to do with them. They were happy if more of them died. Hence, they would ignore similar reports unless evidence was plastered in front of them.
There were some people who were extremely compa.s.sionate in the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee but under the arrangement of their chief, these people were normally kicked out or promoted to unimportant positions. They were unable to shake the true beliefs of the committee.
In reality, Ling Lan wasn’t as calm as she seemed.
After an a.n.a.lysis by Little Four, it was confirmed that this video was filmed by Ling Yi.
“Boss, the ungrateful b.a.s.t.a.r.d actually reported you. That’s so infuriating.” Before Ling Lan could say anything, Little Four started jumping on conclusions.
“Little Four, don’t be angry. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Ling Lan consoled him.
“Boss, why are you speaking up for him?” Little Four felt that if Ling Yi didn’t have bad intentions towards Boss, he would have kept this video to himself.
“He wasn’t planning to report me. He wanted to report Li Lanfeng.” Ling Lan was angry that Ling Yi recorded this video but she didn’t lose her cool.
“Why were you reported then?” Little Four was puzzled.
“Someone from that organisation managed to gain his trust and is most probably staying beside him. The person is quite capable too. He managed to evade the surveillance of Li Lanfeng and you and send the video out.” Ling Lan complimented her enemy.
“Yes, I’m surprised too. I only allowed information to be sent out after confirming that they were safe.” Little Four frowned. This was the first time he met such a setback.
“Even though the technology of the virtual world in this era is not as advanced as Mandora, the hackers here have awakened abilities which allows them to evade your supervision. You must not underestimate them. We need to be more careful in the future.” Ling Lan knew Little Four had an unblemished track record in the virtual world. He had never met any setbacks before so this was a good opportunity to teach him to be cautious.
At first, Little Four was just a dutiful piece of technology. However, as he continued advancing, he became more and more humane. He started to have emotions.
In the process of getting more humane, he slowly picked up the bad habits of humans. For instance, he became careless and scatter-brained. His thoughts kept jumping around when he thought of something interesting. He was not that perfect piece of technology anymore. But, compared to the Little Four before this, Ling Lan prefered the current bubbly Little Four.
Relations.h.i.+ps go both ways. Both parties have to work hard to ensure that the relations.h.i.+p continues and gets better.
Little Four nodded at Ling Lan’s words. In the past, Little Four always thought that hackers of this galaxy wouldn’t be a threat to him. However, this was not the case now.
“It looks like I need to investigate the innate talents of hackers.” Little Four finally got interested in the hackers from this galaxy.
He didn’t feel that the hackers here were a threat before this event because he felt that the technology of Mandora was much more advanced than this galaxy. He got arrogant.
However, the setback this time forced him to acknowledge the skills of the hackers here. They might have some abilities that Mandora didn’t know about.
“Are you able to find out who’s the person hanging around Ling Yi?” Ling Lan asked.
“I’m now looking for him. It’ll take a while.” Little Four was more cautious this time. He could have done it within a few seconds but he decided to take some time to ascertain his findings before releasing it. Hence, he was slower than usual.
“There’s no hurry. Take your time.” Ling Lan believed Little Four’s ability. Plus, she had the time to wait. She was pleased to see Little Four becoming more cautious. She felt like a proud mother of a growing child.
‘Why am I having this feeling?’ Ling Lan was stunned. ‘Sigh, am I destined to take care of people?’
While the people from the Disciplinary and Investigation Committee were examining the video, and while Little Four was finding the culprit, Ling Lan managed to rest her mind as she waited for the result, which dissipated the cold aura around her a little. She seemed more friendly and gentle now. The scars on her face weren’t as scary as before. She looked much more pleasant.
In the corner of the conference room, Mu Chaoran suddenly grabbed Tang Ningyu’s right shoulder.
Tang Ningyu frowned at the force of the grab.
“What’s the matter?” Tang Ningyu looked at Mu Chaoran curiously.
Mu Chaoran was flabbergasted. He seemed to have discovered some astonis.h.i.+ng secret.
“Little Brother Shaoyun…” When Tang Ningyu thought that Mu Chaoran wasn’t going to reply to him, he heard these three words.
Tang Ningyu was dumbfounded. “What did you say?”
Mu Chaoran lifted his finger with difficulty and pointed at Ling Lan. His voice was hoa.r.s.e as he said, “Little Brother Shaoyun.”
Tang Ningyu looked towards Ling Lan. He didn’t sense anything before this but due to Mu Chaoran’s reminder, he could feel Little Brother Shaoyun’s aura on Ling Lan. Although it was very faint, it was still very distinct to him.
“That’s impossible!” Tang Ningyu immediately opposed the idea. How could their pure and innocent Little Brother Shaoyun be this cold and ruthless major general in front of them?
“We always thought that Major General Ling didn’t use the ident.i.ty the mainframe gave him to enter Planet Azure. Before I saw what was currently in front of me, I believed this. However, I realize that we have made a mistake.” Mu Chaoran gave a bitter smile.
“What do you mean?” Tang Ningyu didn’t believe that Ling Lan was Pei Shaoyun but deep down inside, he wished that Mu Chaoran was able to convince him.
“We disregarded the remarks for the mission. It’s a five-star perfect score.” Tang Ningyu felt like slapping himself. “We missed such an important clue.”
“What does the perfect result have to do with the disguise?” Tang Ningyu was still in shock so his brain malfunctioned a little.
Mu Chaoran didn’t reply to him. He just smiled bitterly at Tang Ningyu. He ma.s.saged his temples to gain some time to arrange his thoughts.
After ten seconds, Tang Ningyu grabbed Mu Chaoran’s left hand and said, “Five-star perfect pa.s.s! So that’s the reason.”
“Yes. If he got a five-star perfect pa.s.s, it meant that he followed exactly what the mainframe told him to do. That means that he could only have disguised himself as a student!” Mu Chaoran looked at Ling Lan with a complex expression. If he didn’t retract his force of presence, they might never have realised the truth.
“No wonder Little White is his pet. From the start, he is Little Brother Shaoyun. That’s why Little White always follows him around.” Mu Chaoran had linked everything together.
“Our relations.h.i.+p is fake.” Tang Ningyu’s expression changed. He was fuming slightly.
“It was fake from the start. We just got too immersed in our roles.” Mu Chaoran seemed to be in a daze.
He finally understood why he told Ling Lan the delay back when they were in his room. His instinct was telling him that Ling Lan was his beloved Little Brother Shaoyun.
“Yes. We were all under disguise. However, why did he say that he wasn’t Pei Shaoyun on Planet Haijiao? Why did he say that he didn’t recognise us? Why didn’t he confess to us? Are we unworthy to be his friends?” Tang Ningyu was hurt. “He knew that we are looking for Shaoyun. We hid our ident.i.ties but our feelings for Shaoyun are real. It is real.”
“But, does Little Brother Shaoyun really exist?” Mu Chaoran suddenly understood why Ling Lan lied to them. The pure and innocent Shaoyun only existed in their memory. On the other hand, Ling Lan was some high and mighty figure. Even when he was currently hurt, his position as an imposing figure of the military could never change.
Tang Ningyu immediately calmed down after hearing what Mu Chaoran said. He looked at Ling Lan again.
Ling Lan retracted her force of presence but even so, she still gave him a huge sense of pressure. Her aura was gentler but everyone still didn’t dare to look at her. If he and Mu Chaoran hadn’t advanced to the domain stage, they might be lowering their heads like most of the people in the room.
“He isn’t Pei Shaoyun.” Tang Ningyu was dejected.
“Thus, he denied it. He really isn’t our Little Brother Shaoyun.” Mu Chaoran was sad but at the same time, he felt relieved. The Pei Shaoyun he had been thinking about so dearly never existed.
Mu Chaoran remembered the first time he met Pei Shaoyun. His smile was bright and shy. It was so pure that even he felt guilty. His gaze was always so sincere. Even if you lied to him, he would choose to believe you. His blatant display of innocence hurt him.
He was the most perfect young man on the planet. Mu Chaoran wanted to protect him at all cost. He wanted to protect that innocence forever so that it would never get tainted.
“d.a.m.n it, I don’t believe it.” Mu Chaoran suddenly slapped himself. This sudden self-slap shocked the people beside them. Tang Ningyu glared at the people who had clearly overreacted, and they quickly turned their heads around in fear.
“Chaoran, what are you doing?” Tang Ningyu asked in a low voice.
Mu Chaoran looked at Tang Ningyu. He forced a smile. “Even though I kept telling myself that Little Brother Shaoyun is not real, I can’t convince myself. I don’t believe that our Little Brother Shaoyun’s smile and words are fake. I don’t believe it.”
“I can’t convince myself too.” Tang Ningyu looked at Ling Lan. He made a decision. “He is the only person that can give us an answer.”
Mu Chaoran looked at Ling Lan. Yes, he wouldn’t be able to give up unless he received an answer from Ling Lan personally. He knew that Pei Shaoyun was the devil in his heart. He wouldn’t be able to forget it so easily.
Ling Lan sensed something going over in the audience so she opened her eyes and scanned the crowd.
When she saw Tang Ningyu and Mu Chaoran, her gaze wavered a little. However, she still nodded at them before closing her eyes again.
Those two people were looking at her strangely so Ling Lan was on her guard. The force of presence around her quickly increased. Many people who were looking at her retracted their gaze.
“Boss, I found him.” Little Four finally gave her a piece of good news.
Ling Lan asked immediately, “Who is it?”
“This person!” A young and familiar figure appeared in Ling Lan’s mindscape.
“It’s him… that’s unexpected.” Ling Lan was surprised. Although she knew that her enemy would definitely send someone to get close to Ling Yi, she didn’t expect the person to be with Ling Yi since the Scout Academy. This person had accompanied Ling Yi for sixteen years… he wouldn’t be easy to deal with.
She wondered if this person knew his mission right from the start or was he only told after he became an adult. If it was the first option… this was a scary person.