Chapter 525: Purpose!
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Number One’s words caused the expressions of the others still present to change. Number Four was talking to himself, saying, “How could it be this fast…” Was he entering the maturation stage?
“I can’t determine the direction Majesty Four is evolving towards. He probably still hasn’t reached the period of maturation, but for some reason he has the possibility of evolving.” Instructor Number One’s eyes showed worry and confusion for the first time. It should be said that ever since Ling Lan had decided to walk her own path, no matter if it was the learning s.p.a.ce or Little Four, both appeared to have some changes; only, Instructor Number One didn’t know whether the change was a good or bad thing.
“Since it’s already become reality, then we can only watch and see.” Instructor Number Five was looking forward to the change very much. Compared to cases of normal evolution, he was more interested in this type of unpredictable evolution. In his own words, he would say that it added a feeling of novelty.
Moving away from the instructors’ concerns and worries about Little Four’s evolution, after Ling Lan and the others walked into the training dojo, they didn’t go to the center of the arena. Instead, they walked into the s.p.a.cious observation room which directly faced the arena.
In the observation room, there was a transparent gla.s.s window on the side with the arena, which allowed for a clear view of any movement inside the training dojo. Of course, if someone looked from the other side, it would only appear to be a wall and they wouldn’t be able to see what was inside.
This transparent gla.s.s window simultaneously acted as a large screen. In front of the screen, there were rows of sofas that were set up in a shape of handheld fan. The room could hold up to a maximum of 500 audience members that could sit and watch.
Beside each sofa seat, there was also a miniature optical supercomputer. The audience could freely choose the angles and spots they wanted to watch from. This optical supercomputer would also send information from the arena to the seat. For example, once a new cadet chose their opponent, these optical supercomputers would immediately receive the information and show it.
The observation room was around 400 to 500 meters away from the arena. It seemed far, but for these captains whose physical skills had reached the level of Qi-Jin, they only need 2 to 3 seconds to close that distance. It didn’t hinder them from reaching the arena to act as an examiner.
Knowing that today was the day of evaluations for freshmen, many members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan had already come inside the training dojo. Very soon, the dojo became lively. Many of the older members were calling out to their friends to gather in front of the arena and quietly wait for the evaluations to begin.
Finally, it was the time for the evaluations, but not one person appeared in the arena—it turned out that none among the freshmen were rus.h.i.+ng out to choose their opponent. Those who could manage to get admitted to the First Men’s Military Academy were not blindly impulsive people. Being clever, they all wanted to watch two rounds of evaluations before making their decisions.
“Boss, this group of freshmen are all very cautious,” Wu Jiong quietly said to Ling Lan upon seeing this scene.
Li Yingjie snorted coldly at that and said, “They’re all gutless. If it were me, I would definitely have gone up at the very beginning to take the examiner down a notch.”
Taking an examiner down a notch? Everyone looked towards Li Yingjie with surprise and they saw that his head was propped up. He was being so c.o.c.ky that he made a few people around him instantly feel their hands itch. Sh*t, they were examiners right now. Did Li Yingjie mean that he regretted that no one was coming out to take himself down a notch?
It should be known that Li Yingjie was a huge fool; he always ended up drawing a great deal of hatred towards himself. Even if those around him were friends from the same clan who had known him for at least three years and knew of his personality, that still couldn’t help Li Yingjie prevent everyone from hating him.
Seeing this, Ling Lan couldn’t help but shake her head silently. Even now, this Li Yingjie’s words were still rubbish. As expected, he was definitely an antagonist.
Right then, there was finally some movement among the freshman who had been silently waiting for three minutes, which saved Li Yingjie in the nick of time. One captain discovered the information that the A.I. had sent over and said, “Coming.”
His voice diverted everyone’s focus towards the optical supercomputer in front of them; no one was paying attention to the second-rate captain Li Yingjie. At the same time, Li Yingjie didn’t realize that he was almost about to have been beaten up by a large mob. He too looked at the optical supercomputer, curious as to who among them was the one chosen to go out.
“w.a.n.g Ke from Doha Central Scout Academy, graduated as valedictorian. Physical Skills: Qi-Jin Beginner Level; Mecha World Mecha Piloting Level: Advanced!” The optical supercomputer displayed these data points, which astonished many of the captains; they themselves hadn’t managed to reach this standard when they had entered the First Men’s Military Academy.
“As expected of Boss’ junior. He’s very strong.” Many of the captains looked towards Ling Lan, all of them giving compliments. Ling Lan smiled for good measure. Could it be that they thought all the geniuses that came out from Doha Central Scout Academy was her doing?
But Ling Lan didn’t expect her playful thought was actually a reality. Ling Lan’s legacy had always remained a legend in the Central Scout Academy. The uncrowned king of the Central Scout Academy was the boss of the valedictorian. w.a.n.g Ke had also led his year’s cadets and successfully jump-started the grand armed melee, and became the idol of the entire Central Scout Academy. This was why w.a.n.g Ke had such amazing grades upon entering the First Men’s Military Academy. With gems like Ling Lan, Qi Long and Wu Jiong before them, these younger cadets didn’t dare to loosen up and be lazy. They had had no choice but to train as hard as they could to follow in the footsteps of their seniors.
“The opponent he chose is… Commander Qi, Qi Long.” The observation room became rowdy. Although the four big commanders were in the list of the examiners that could be chosen, most people wouldn’t choose the 4 Bosses of Lingtian to be their examiner. For one, they wouldn’t be able to win because those who could become commanders were very capable. Two, everyone feared that choosing the Bosses would leave a bad impression on them and end up getting themselves be mercilessly failed.
Qi Long saw this notification and was also stunned for a moment. He didn’t expect his turn to come right off the bat. The amount of time given to him to rest wasn’t enough, as the energy that he had fully depleted during their activities had not recovered yet; his arms and legs were still limp and didn’t have any strength.
Qi Long laughed bitterly in his mind. This w.a.n.g Ke was really lucky; if he had acted just a bit slower, with his capabilities, Qi Long wouldn’t have even seen him as a threat. Now, however, the outcome was unpredictable. Qi Long thought back to Boss’ words back in the commander’s room and his expression instantly tensed up—he knew that it was time to put his life on the line.
“Boss, I’m going,” Qi Long turned around and told Ling Lan. His eyes showed calmness.
Seeing this, Ling Lan’s eyes quickly showed a hint of splendor and she nodded lightly in response. In the next second, Qi Long had already disappeared from the observation room.
The freshmen saw the opponent that w.a.n.g Ke, who was from the Doha Central Academy, had chosen and they weren’t surprised. In their minds, it was logical that this valedictorian of the Doha Central Academy was the first to go into the arena. This was also the reason why they had been waiting for almost three minutes.
“Captain, I thought you were going to be the first one to go up,” Tao Xiaotao said to Ling Yi upon seeing that w.a.n.g Ke had gone into the arena.
“We’re from a third-rate planet, so it’s not appropriate for us to go in first. No matter if our performance is good or not, we would still make the others feel annoyed,” Yi Tiange quietly explained to Tao Xiaotao.
Tao Xiaotao only half understood what he meant. The others, however, all showed that they understood with a gleam in their eyes. There were many cadets who had come from first and second-rate planets, and there were also many cadets who had come from the Federation’s Planet Doha. If they let a third-rate planet’s cadet go up first, it would be a disgrace for the Federation and would make the other high-cla.s.s cadets feel disgraced as well. Even if Ling Yi successfully joined Lingtian Mecha Clan, he would still probably suffer from discrimination by the first and second-rate cadets in the beginning.
At that moment, a person suddenly appeared in the arena. The virtual screen in front of the optical supercomputer clearly showed the freshmen a close-up of the face of the person who had just appeared.
“Oh, it’s Qi Long, Commander Qi!” The freshmen all let out an exclamation at the sight of that individual; they didn’t expect w.a.n.g Ke to be this gutsy. He had actually chosen to fight against the second most powerful member of Lingtian, Qi Long.
“This w.a.n.g Ke really is something. The opponent that he chose is actually this guy,” Rong Ziruo mused to himself as he looked at the arena.
“When Commander Qi Long graduated, he was the valedictorian of Doha Central. w.a.n.g Ke, the new graduate, is also the same. The battle between the old and new valedictorian… it’ll be interesting as I thought. Using his status to challenge Commander Qi Long will not only not irritate Commander Qi Long, but it could even make him appreciate w.a.n.g Ke more. This w.a.n.g Ke isn’t just a simple person,” Yi Tiange a.n.a.lyzed. He and Rong Ziruo smiled at each other. In their team, their IQs were higher and they would usually think similarly.
Ling Yi’s expression grew tense as he looked at w.a.n.g Ke. Originally, Ling Yi believed that he was the best of the best, but now it seemed that he had underestimated the geniuses of the Federation. The First Men’s Military Academy was, as expected, the cradle for the most talented people of the entire Federation; a mere small mecha clan tryout had drawn out a rival on par with him.
“Weird, it looks like Commander Qi Long isn’t feeling well,” Yan Wuyou remarked with a frown. He was the main fighter of the team. Since his capabilities were very close to Ling Yi, he was able to quickly see through Qi Long’s odd condition.
His words made the others focus on Qi Long as well. Hua Qingxin frowned beautifully and said, “It seems there’s some problem with his energy.” Hua Qingxin’s heart was closer to that of a female, but his strength was ranked third in the team, very close to Ling Yi and Yan Wuyou; he was the secondary fighter of the team. Yan Wuyou’s indication allowed him to immediately see through where Qi Long’s issue lay.
“Haha, could it be that Captain Qi Long did something to deplete his energy just now?” It seemed Tao Xiaotao had thought of something. He had a sleazy smile on his face.
Seeing this, Yan Wuyou slapped Tao Xiaotao’s head and scoldingly said, “Dumba.s.s, what are you thinking about?” They really got to hand it to this brat; he dared to think of anything. Although it seemed as if Commander Qi Long’s condition was the result of him doing ‘that’, Yan Wuyou believed that he would definitely not do such a thing. Even if he wanted to, he didn’t have anyone one to do it with, right?
Yi Tiange put his hand under his chin and began to think… and his expression quickly changed. He guessed, “Perhaps this is the Lingtian Mecha Clan trying to take us down a notch.”
“Taking us down a notch?” Everyone looked at Yi Tiange. Rong Ziruo was also in deep thought.
“They don’t even care about us. Before our evaluations, they even went through brutal physical training and depleted all of their energy,” Yi Tiange replied with a tense expression.
After hearing those words, Ling Yi and the others all had difficult expressions on their faces. They were originally full of confidence, but a heavy blow was dealt to their hearts because of how Lingtian was underestimating them.
“Oh!” Rong Ziruo suddenly exclaimed with a smile. Unfortunately, his eyes didn’t show that he was smiling. “Since it’s like that this, then we should behave well. If they really do get defeated by us, then I want to see how they’ll be able to still stand proud as seniors.” Lingtian’s move had made him mad…
Rong Ziruo’s words had also evoked the anger of the rest of Ling Yi’s team at the same time. Their eyes became filled with rage and they desired to go up to the arena that very instant to fight those examiners; they wanted to use their strength to prove that they weren’t just weaklings that would be defeated easily.
Ling Yi’s expression showed he was in deep thought. “Young Master Lan, are you really looking down on us? Or perhaps it was Ling Lan’s subordinates’ acting on their own will?” Ling Yi was thinking towards the latter. Perhaps he didn’t want to think Young Master Lan, whom he respected, didn’t respect him. In short, his intuition had told him that it was the latter.
Ling Yi’s intuition was correct. That Ling Lan exhausted Qi Long and the others of their energy wasn’t because she was underestimating them as Yi Tiange had thought. In reality, Ling Lan thought well of them, which was why she had arranged things like this. She hoped that they would be able to give Qi Long a good fight.
In the next moment, w.a.n.g Ke had already walked up onto the arena.
“Senior Qi Long! Please go easy!” w.a.n.g Ke respectfully bowed towards Qi Long.
Qi Long nodded towards w.a.n.g Ke before taking a defensive stance with his hands. Even such a simple movement made Qi Long use up all of his energy; the energy that he had managed to recover earlier was completely depleted when he had ran from the observation room.
w.a.n.g Ke frowned. Qi Long’s expression didn’t change, but his movements were odd; w.a.n.g Ke saw through this. He didn’t think that Qi Long was underestimating him, but he was curious what had actually happened to Qi Long’s body to make his condition this terrible.
“Bam!” w.a.n.g Ke used all his might to attack. Seeing this, Qi Long didn’t dodge and took the blow.
The hidden strength of the beginner level of Qi-Jin from both of them collided fiercely, and the resultant shockwave knocked back w.a.n.g Ke by a few steps. His blood began to boil. w.a.n.g Ke took a deep breath and held down the feeling of pain. His eyes showed a hint of caution but also a hint of pleasant surprise.
w.a.n.g Ke didn’t think that Qi Long’s condition was so poor. The original information known to the public about Qi Long was that he was at the intermediate level of Qi-Jin. w.a.n.g Ke’s Qi-Jin definitely didn’t have a chance of going against Qi Long. w.a.n.g Ke had already thought about this problem. He knew that once they clashed, he would become wounded internally, but right now, other than the feeling of his blood boiling, he hadn’t suffered any internal wounds; this proved that Qi Long’s current strength was on par with his at best.
On his side, Qi Long felt the same blood boiling feeling after clas.h.i.+ng with w.a.n.g Ke. He uncontrollably took a large step back and his expression changed slightly. As expected, he was totally exhausted and could no longer continue to use his internal energy. His capabilities had fallen to the beginner level of Qi-Jin. Because of this, w.a.n.g Ke’s evaluation fight would trap Qi Long in a drawn-out fight, and for him, a drawn-out fight in his current condition was very disadvantageous.
Qi Long exhaled profusely, releasing a bit of the pressurized air in his body, and at the same time he shook his right hand slightly; the shockwave from the clash had made his right hand feel numb.
w.a.n.g Ke stopped his footsteps. He didn’t hesitate—he pounced and attacked Qi Long again. He knew that he couldn’t let Qi Long have time to recover. If he did, the situation would be disadvantageous for him.
“Bang, bang, bang…” What followed was the collision of countless punches. In the arena, w.a.n.g Ke was like the wind, he was there one second and over there for another, attacking Qi Long with swift movements. Qi Long, on the other hand, was like an unmoving old oak tree, standing firmly in the center of the arena. He only used his two hands to block w.a.n.g Ke’s continuous attacks.
The situation in the arena made the freshmen, who hadn’t see that Qi Long’s behavior was odd in the beginning, realize that there was something wrong. “Ah, that Commander Qi Long. It looks like there’s a problem with his body’s energy.”
“This is a way of fighting to save to energy. Commander Qi Long definitely doesn’t have enough energy.” Although they were freshmen, they were all outstanding individuals since they were able to partic.i.p.ate in the first round of a.s.sessments; all of them were physical skills experts and they all clearly knew why Qi Long was using that way to fight.
“Sh*t, Qi Long’s too weak. The freshman is actually getting the better of him,” Li Yingjie said, expecting better from Qi Long after watching until this point. Only, his brows showed a hint of anxiousness and his eyes flashed with a hint of concern. Whether it be the fact that he was worried about Qi Long, or worried that Qi Long losing would mean losing pride for Lingtian, both proved that Li Yingjie really did care about the Lingtian Mecha Clan.
The other captains that were watching all wore expressions of worry and concern. They looked towards Ling Lan, thinking that Boss would be able to give a proper explanation. They knew clearly that Commander Qi Long was in such a troubled state because of Boss. It was just that they didn’t understand why Boss had beaten up Qi Long and then entrusted him with the role of an examiner for the evaluations this time.
“Boss, Qi Long will be okay, right?” Wu Jiong looked to Ling Lan for some comfort. Ever since the Lingtian Mecha Clan was formed, Wu Jiong had kept in contact with Qi Long the most. After countless meetings, their friends.h.i.+p had gradually deepened. At that moment, Wu Jiong was sincerely worried that something might happen to Qi Long.
In response to his question, Ling Lan, who was originally touching her right hand’s index finger, instantly paused and then calmly replied, “I don’t know.”
Ling Lan’s answer stunned Wu Jiong. It also made Luo Lang, Han Jijyun and the others turn around to look towards Ling Lan. Their eyes filled with a hint of worry.
“Boss…” Wu Jiong swallowed the rest of his sentence. “You’re too much. Since you don’t even know what kind of outcome was waiting for Qi Long, then why would you arrange it like this?” Wu Jiong thought to himself.
“Qi Long’s Qi-Jin limit has been stuck for quite some time. Although he has been doing limit training, he still hasn’t found any possibility of a breakthrough.” Ling Lan glanced at Luo and the others. “But as luck would have it, these freshmans couldn’t be ruthless against a fully exhausted Qi Long and is unable to force out Qi Long’s final limit.”
The criticism in Ling Lan’s eyes made the others in her team touch their noses in embarra.s.sment. They were all friends that had grown up together and furthermore, they weren’t Boss. Even if Boss ordered that they had to be be ruthless, they still couldn’t help but feel compa.s.sion at the sight of Qi Long getting beaten to a pulp.
Luo Lang was unwilling to submit to her criticism and said, “Boss, there’s still you, isn’t there?”
Ling Lan glared at Luo Lang and plainly responded, “If I could do it, then would I need to order you guys to do it? At my current level, even Qi Long at his peak form wouldn’t be able to block one hit from me. Is it possible for me to slowly force Qi Long to his limit?” Ling Lan actually also had a headache. After entering the Domain level, her aura, no matter how much she lowered it, would be just over the level with which she could help Qi Long reach his limit.
Luo Lang and the others were actually the most suitable. Unfortunately, the friends.h.i.+p between them made them unable to force Qi Long into a corner and drive him to the brink of death. As such, Ling had had no choice but to look for other methods.
Han Jijyun’s eyes suddenly lit up. He knew clearly that Qi Long was always troubled by the fact that his physical skills were stuck at its current level and didn’t move at all. No matter what method he used, he couldn’t see any sign of the barrier to advanced level budging. Although Qi Long’s performance was stable, Han Jijyun, who was very familiar with Qi Long, had still managed to become of aware of Qi Long’s small impatience.
He didn’t that think Qi Long’s anxiousness was also discovered by Boss. He thought back to the last few days. Not only did Boss beat up Qi Long himself, but he also called upon them to do the same. In the beginning, Han Jijyun had felt that Qi Long’s situation was tragic, but he didn’t expect that there was a deeper meaning to Boss’ decision in the matter. Unfortunately, they had failed to understand his deeper meaning and failed to help Qi Long reach his actual limit.
Han Jijyun thought back to that time again. Even if they had known, they wouldn’t have been able to be so heartless as to actually drive Qi Long to the verge of death. None of them was Boss. When Boss was ruthless, they could truly feel his thick killing intent aura; it was as if he really wanted to kill them.
“Now, he can really enter that limit.” Han Jijyun looked at Ling Lan wishfully. He, of course, hoped that Qi Long could become stronger.
Ling Lan’s frown tensed up further as she said, “I don’t know…” Some luck and coincidence was necessary in order to be driven to a near-death state. Ling Lan really didn’t know whether Qi Long could get there or not. The only thing she could do was to use any way possible to let Qi Long get closer to that moment.
“This w.a.n.g Ke really can force Qi Long to his limit,” Wu Jiong said slyly. Even if Qi Long’s current energy was close to zero, the beginner level of Qi-Jin alone wasn’t enough to force him to the edge of death.
“One naturally isn’t enough, but there are a hundred people waiting for their evaluations. That should be enough,” Ling Lan said indifferently.
Everyone looked at Ling Lan dumbfounded. Did Ling Lan know from the very beginning that Qi Long would be trapped in a round-robin battle?
“Compared to the other examiners whose strength are unknown, do you really think these freshmen would give up on this examiner who is clearly at his breaking point?” Ling Lan continued plainly.
Everyone shook their heads. If it was them, they would also have continued to choose Qi Long.
“In the beginning, if no one chose Qi Long but someone else instead, for example, me or Luo Lang or another, then the one trapped in a round-robin battle would have been one of us,” Han Jijyun said, pointing at himself, Luo Lang and the others. They were all people who had their energy exhausted.
“Do you guys not need to advance as well?” Ling Lan raised her brow.
Han Jijyun was shaken. He didn’t think that it wasn’t only Qi Long who had fallen into a bottleneck for his physical skills. They had all entered different degrees of a bottleneck state. It turned out that Boss’ target wasn’t only set on Qi Long—they were targets too. Boss was clearly throwing down his fis.h.i.+ng net and seeing which unlucky fish was going to get caught.
“Actually, you guys are considered secondary. It’s mainly for Qi Long this time. Only, I wasn’t sure which battle Qi Long would appear in.” Ling Lan pointed at w.a.n.g Ke, who had fallen into a drawn-out fight with Qi Long. “This guy, he would have definitely chosen Qi Long either way.” As a valedictorian, he definitely had his own pride. He wouldn’t choose a normal captain as his opponent, but he most likely didn’t have the courage to go against her. This being the case, then Qi Long, as a valedictorian himself, was w.a.n.g Ke’s best opponent. Ling Lan had already arranged everything ever since she had taken a look at the list of applicants.
“I didn’t know that that the effect of this fight would be this good. w.a.n.g Ke is the first to have entered the arena, which resulted in not giving Qi Long any time to rest. This also exposed Qi Long’s condition to everyone right at the beginning. I believe that many of the freshmen will start to act rashly,” Ling Lan explained, looking around the freshmen below the arena. The excitement in their eyes showed everything clearly. It seemed that Ling Lan’s arrangement had had some effect.
Ling Lan’s gaze pa.s.sed over Ling Yi, who was frowning as though he was thinking of something…