Chapter 528: Why?
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Inside her minds.p.a.ce, Little Four rubbed his nose, rolled his eyes and didn’t say anything. His boss looked as though she was angry, but she didn’t have any killing intent. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that Boss was actually going to choke Ling Yi to death. Boss was more angry about Ling Yi messing up her plans; she had expected better from him.
Everyone in the observation room looked towards Ling Lan and waited for their boss’ next move. On the side, Ling Lan was looking at the arena with a blank expression as though she was thinking about something.
The moment the freshmen saw that Ling Yi had chosen Ling Lan, they were shaken. At the same time, this situation also made many freshmen become discontent. After all, with his interference in the middle, Qi Long would have time to rest. It wouldn’t be that easy for them to continue to take advantage of Qi Long.
However, even though many freshmen were dissatisfied with his decision, they couldn’t deny that they were all extremely excited as well. The examiner Ling Yi had chosen was Ling Lan and Ling Lan was the legendary existence in the First Men’s Military Academy. These freshmen definitely wanted to see the heroic figure of this legendary commander, and Ling Yi had given them the chance to do so.
The members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan around the arena were actually in an uproar.
“Sh*t, who is this freshman? He actually dares to challenge our boss. He’s really daring.” A Lingtian member, who respected Ling Lan greatly, spoke with an angry expression. From how he saw it, these freshmen didn’t even have the qualifications to challenge Boss Ling Lan.
“Is it because he’s underestimating our other captains and commanders?” someone asked.
“This punk is too c.o.c.ky!”
Seeing the members of Lingtian Mecha Clan around them speak ill of Ling Yi, Yi Tiange knew the situation wasn’t going well; they had already made enemies with the senior members before they could even join the mecha clan. They were not in a very good position and could even be singled out by all the other members.
Yi Tiange immediately replied, “Our captain respects Commander Ling Lan very much. He was originally going to challenge Commander Qi Long, but Commander Qi Long has fought countless fights and his energy has been depleted. Our captain believes that challenging Commander Qi Long again wouldn’t be fair. That is why he chose Commander Ling Lan to ask for his advice in fighting.”
Yi Tiange words were very logical and made some of the Lingtian members calm down, but there were still others who remained very dissatisfied. They said, “You have to defeat our captains or other commanders before challenging our boss.”
“Also, are you guys underestimating our Commander Qi Long? Even though his energy has been depleted, defeating him wouldn’t be easy. Did he really need to have an expression of emapthy?” In terms of showing her physical skills, ever since Ling Lan fought in the arena battle in the very beginning, she never fought again in front of everyone. In these past two years, Qi Long was always the one to be challenged. In the eyes of Lingtian members, Qi Long was similarly undefeatable. Although Yi Tiange’s words were of good intentions and Ling Yi was being just, there was still a feeling that made them seem they were underestimating Qi Long. This made the other members feel very discontent.
Hearing all this, Yi Tiange couldn’t help but smile bitterly. If his own captain had chosen someone else, then maybe those of Lingtian would have seen him a better light. However, as luck would have it, his captain had chosen the spiritual leader of Lingtian, Ling Lan. This made these people’s opinion of his captain worsen. No matter how much more they explained themselves, they wouldn’t be able to turn those thoughts around.
At that moment, Qi Long was breathing heavily on the arena. He saw white flashes after being so exhausted and everything around him seemed to be really far from him. He was like a log waiting for the next freshman to come up the arena to challenge him…
Challenge our boss? Qi Long’s ears suddenly heard these words. What? Someone wanted to challenge Boss?
“If you want to challenge our boss, then defeat all the captains or other commanders first!” That was right. If Ling Yi didn’t defeat them, then how could he have to audacity to challenge the Boss?
“… Underestimating our Commander Qi Long… energy depleted to its limit… charity…” Underestimate? Charity? Qi Long’s eyes suddenly opened, following which his originally fading five senses returned to him and he saw the angry expression of the members below. A cool young man stood below the arena, standing there fearlessly. He stood tall and firm as though the mockery and anger from around him didn’t affect him at all.
“Is it him? He’s looking down on me because of my condition? And because of that he also thinks he can defeat Boss?” Qi Long’s eyes began to burn with rage. Everyone had their own friends and family. As far as the public was concerned, Ling Lan was a childhood friend that grew up with Qi Long, but in reality, the former was like a brother and father to him. Whether it be his physical skills or way of thinking, Ling Lan was the one who had taught him everything. He could accept any insults directed to him, but he couldn’t let anyone look down upon Ling Lan.
Right at that moment, Ling Lan had finally come to a decision. She was getting ready to defeat Ling Yi at lighting speed and continue her previous arrangement, but just then, in the arena, Qi Long’s entire aura suddenly changed.
Ling Lan frowned and looked towards Ling Yi, who was waiting for Qi Long to descend the arena. Her lips perked up as she said, “Making plans but the plans fail. If don’t plan, something amazing happens. Ling Yi… your luck isn’t bad! You’ve gotten away from danger!”
At that moment, Ling Yi suddenly felt his body become cold. Before he could figure out why, he heard Qi Long’s deep voice coming from the arena, asking, “Are you the one who wants to challenge our boss?”
Ling Yi nodded in response. The only reason he had worked so hard for so long was to let Young Master Lan see his potential, to have him judge whether or not he was qualified to stand behind him.
Qi Long suddenly burst out in hysterical laughter. “Hahaha, if you want to challenge our boss then defeat me first. Otherwise, you’re not qualified!” The sentence with the words “not qualified” was roared out, his voice exploding throughout the entire training dojo. It actually made a few people who had lower levels in physical skills become shaken.
Ling Yi looked at Qi Long’s red eyes and immediately frowned. He suddenly felt that the current Qi Long was very dangerous. His aura was very different compared to when he was fighting others.
“Qi Long looks kind of odd.” Han Jijyun, who knew Qi Long best, had a change in expression.
Ling Lan’s expression tensed up and she quietly agreed, “Yes.”
Although Qi Long was asking for a fight, Ling Yi didn’t go into the arena. The one he had challenged was Ling Lan, and thus they could only wait for her answer.
At that moment, a cold sharp voice sounded out in response to Qi Long’s outburst. “Let’s do what Qi Long wants!”
Ling Lan’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t think that Qi Long was so trusted by Young Master Lan. Young Master Lan actually let Qi Long interfere and fight. After leaving Young Master Lan for more than ten years, did the person who was now standing behind him this man?
The intent to fight flashed in Ling Yi’s eyes. “Since he wants to fight, then we’ll fight!” He moved quickly and jumped onto the arena. He said, “Then Commander Qi Long, please advise me.”
“Fight!” Following the signal to fight, the fighting spirit from Qi Long’s body poured out and almost force Ling Yi into the ground. The aura pouring out of him had also suddenly caused a transparent light barrier to appear on the outer edges of the arena.
Ling Yi expression changed drastically. The Qi-Jin in Qi Long’s body was quickly moving about. This definitely wasn’t the intermediate level of Qi-Jin. The physical skills instructor at his Scout Academy was only at the intermediate level of Qi-Jin. There wasn’t an existence of this type of aura that made people unable to raise their heads.
“Is it the Advanced level of Qi-Jin? Or even higher?” Ling Yi thought to himself as he endured with great effort.
The audience below the arena all wore expressions of confusion at the appearance of the light barrier. Some of the older cadets suddenly thought of something and their expressions showed pleasant surprise. Could it be that Commander Qi Long had already reached “that” level?
“Is it aura? When did Qi Long learn how to use an aura?” Luo Lang wondered aloud with surprise. Those who had previously received a beating at Ling Lan’s hand all knew what it was. They had been pressured to the ground by Ling Lan’s aura before. However, the day before, Qi Long clearly didn’t know how to use an aura.
Ling Lan’s eyes gleamed. She didn’t expect Ling Yi’s provocation to push Qi Long to the verge of death. It had actually accidentally allowed him to learn how to use an aura. Of course, this type of aura that only came from Qi Long’s fighting spirit wasn’t the actual aura from later stages of Qi-Jin. It could only be considered a prototype and needed strong emotions to kickstart.
Ling Lan already felt that it was a bit unexpected. She couldn’t help but understand why it had happened. Qi Long had been stuck at the advanced level of Qi-Jin for a very long time. He had only needed to progress just a bit more to advance into the later stages of Qi-Jin. Having sense the prototype aura earlier on was also a possibility.
Everyone stared at the arena. Even though they all had their own questions, at that moment, they didn’t want to think too much into the details.
Even though Qi Long’s aura was a prototype, for Ling Yi, it was strong enough. He endured with great effort and felt that he was going to get pressured by this shapeless pressure.
Ling Lan knew that if this continued, his final outcome would be being forced into the floor and laying there. Ling Yi had trained his physical skills long and hard for more than ten years and he was being watched by Ling Lan right now, so how could he just surrender like this? He bit his lip hard and put all of his body’s Qi-Jin into his two feet. He stomped on the ground and his entire body flew towards Qi Long like a cannonball. He clenched his right hand into a fist and launched a punch towards Qi Long’s head.
He had to attack Qi Long and interfere with the release of his aura!
“Bam!” Qi Long raised his right hand and blocked Ling Yi’s punch. The large aura began to spread, causing the originally dimmed transparent light barrier to brighten up once again.
Ling Yi was sent flying by this force. He somersaulted in mid-air and landed firmly on the arena. Qi Long didn’t move at all. In terms of the power of the hits just now, Ling Yi’s was weaker than Qi Long’s by a mile. However, it was because of Ling Yi’s attack that Qi Long’s aura’s pressure was cut off. The aura in the arena was instantly gone, making Ling Yi breathe a sigh of relief. He knew he had temporarily gotten through a crisis.
“That’s too bad. Qi Long’s aura stops once he gets interfered,” Luo Lang remarked with a face of pity for Qi Long. If he could continue to pressure Ling Yi, then Ling Yi wouldn’t have any chance to defeat Qi Long at all.
“It wasn’t easy for Qi Long to get to this point since he just comprehended how to use his aura.” Ling Lan knew clearly that using this kind of power would greatly burden the body. Qi Long being able to endure for this long was already a performance that was sufficiently amazing.
Luo Lang knew that he was forcing his body, but it was just that he worried that Qi Long’s energy wasn’t enough. If he could have defeated his opponent with his aura, that would have been the best possible outcome. This was why he felt regret.
No longer under the pressure of Qi Long’s aura, Ling Yi began to attack again. He was afraid that if he hesitated even for a second, his opponent would use that shapeless aura again. Ling Yi didn’t know that that aura just now was only accidentally turned on by Qi Long. If he wanted to use it again, he may not be successful. Qi Long, who couldn’t fully control this ability yet, would need to use a lot of time to train and study if he wanted to completely control it.
Qi Long saw his opponent come towards him with an attack and raised his fist to block. Qi Long’s way of using physical skills was to attack. He favored using offense to go against offense and using attacks as defensive moves. On his side, Ling Yi was afraid that Qi Long would release that aura of his if he got a chance, and thus he didn’t dare to back off. Because of this, the fight in the arena had now become a true hand-to-hand combat. The two of them exchanged punches, each thrown fist landing a blow on the other’s body.
“Bam! Bam! Bam!” The sound of intense collisions rang in the air, which made the audience members below the arena feel that their own bodies were hurting. However, the two people in the arena before had indifferent expressions, as though the body that was being hit was not their own but someone else’s.
“These two are both ruthless people,” some of the audience couldn’t help but remark. If they were the ones up there, they didn’t know how long they would have been able to endure this kind of battle.
“Do the two of them not feel any pain?” someone asked with surprise.
“How could they not feel pain? It’s just that their endurance is really strong and they don’t show that they are in pain,” someone responded.
“Looks like Ling Yi knows the method that the Ling family uses for physical training. I’m not sure who gave it to him. Was it Chamberlain Ling Qin or Ling Yu?” Ling Lan frowned. However, no matter if it was Ling Qin or Ling Yu, it meant that they didn’t give up on Ling Yi.
“It was Chamberlain Ling Qin. I remember that when Boss was in your second year at the scout academy, Chamberlain Ling Qin asked you whether to look after Ling Yi a bit. I remember your reply was that he could give Ling Yi some special treatment as long as it didn’t bring about danger to the safety of the Ling family.” Little Four suddenly appeared and answered Ling Lan’s question.
“Right, I remember now.” Little Four’s reminder made Ling Lan remember that part of her memory. She had allowed Ling Qin to be fully responsible, but she didn’t expect that Ling Qin’s expectation of Ling Yi was so high. He had even given Ling Yi the Ling family’s method of physical training.
“It’s also because of this physical training that made Ling Yi attend school a year later than he should have attended,” Little Four added.
Ling Lan finally understood why Ling Yi was two years behind her when he was only one year younger than her. Physical training was good, but he needed one year’s time to train. She didn’t know how Ling Qin had managed to convince Ling Yi to make him give up entering a scout academy in his first year.
It should be known that cadets who entered a scout academy after the first year would not be able to enter the best scout academies regardless of whether they possessed excellent talent. Some late cadets would even be put into third-rate scout academies. This act was to punish those cadets who didn’t apply on time.
The only reason why it was so strict was that most cadets would become soldiers in the future. Soldiers had to obey all rules and orders, and the military was especially even more strict when it came to time management. It should be known that arriving later than a minute on the battlefield could cause the entire battle to be lost. No one could take that kind of burden, and thus the military had to start placing restrictions while cadets were children and make them understand the importance of rules and the importance of time.
“No wonder he was studying at that third-rate planet.” Everything was now clear and could be explained. Although Ling Lan had allowed Ling Yi to leave, she didn’t want to completely destroy the latter’s future. The sympathy that Chamberlain Ling Qin had shown for Ling Yi wouldn’t have him be sent to a third-rate planet. The worst would only be a second-rate planet.
After a brief bout of intense fighting, the now separated two people were both facing each as they trembled. Ling Yi breathed heavily as he felt an incomparable pain in his body. Although he had used the Ling family’s special method of physical training, Qi Long’s punches were fierce and heavy and still wounded him.
However… Ling Yi looked towards Qi Long in front of him. At that moment, Qi Long was hunched over and his body was swaying about. Others perhaps could not see clearly, but Ling Yi could see very clearly that there was a puddle of water below Qi Long’s feet; it was the sweat from Qi Long’s body. It was flowing down and instantly made an entire area wet.
Qi Long’s endurance had really reached its maximum limit. If he didn’t have just a bit of Qi-Jin holding him up, it was possible he wouldn’t have even had the energy to stand. Although he could stand, only a gentle hit was needed to completely push down that swaying body of his.
“If I defeat you, then I’ll have the necessary qualifications to challenge Young Master Lan, right?” Ling Yi thought. “Although I don’t want to take advantage of the situation, I will take it in order to fight against Young Master Lan. Sorry, Commander Qi Long!” Ling Yi shouted. He let go of the shame in his mind, kicked off the ground and pounced onto Qi Long. He once again threw a punch straight at Qi Long.
Qi Long did not even have to energy to open his eyes at that moment; he couldn’t feel anything around him. He felt as if his entire being had become engulfed in darkness. He even felt that he didn’t even have the energy to breathe. Only his heart was beating intensely as though it was going to jump out of his chest…
“Dum, dum, dum…” The beating sound of his heart became faster and faster. Qi Long felt that his heart couldn’t handle the pressure from the beating and felt like it was going to explode…
“Am I going to die?” Unable to breathe and feeling his heart pressured so much that it seemed on the verge of exploding, Qi Long really thought he was going to die. He couldn’t even feel his body. It was as though his everything had disappeared.
“Could it be that I’ve lost my fight against Ling Yi?” At that moment, Qi Long was very curious as to why he wasn’t worried whether he was dead or not. Instead, he was thinking about whether he had lost to Ling Yi or not.
“If I lose, then will Boss have to come down?”
“Sh*t!” Qi Long roared angrily. This was a disgrace to Boss and it was all because he was useless. If he had just a bit more endurance, there would have been no way for him to lose, right?
“Why did you exhaust us of all our energy and then let us be examiners? Why, Boss?” Qi Long shouted begrudgingly.
“Because you guys aren’t strong enough!” Ling Lan’s cold voice suddenly exploded beside Qi Long’s ears.
After hearing this voice, Qi Long’s dark world suddenly became enveloped in light. He stood in the mid-air and looked below him. There he saw green fields, wherein laid countless hidden buildings. When the wind blew and the trees shook, the buildings could be seen just a little bit.
At that moment, a few hover cars suddenly flew down from above and stopped in front of a huge ball-shaped building. Seven or eight young men came out of the hover cars. They each had their own personalities. There were serious ones, and there were also ones who smiled. There were feminine ones, and then there were masculine ones as well. There were happy-go-lucky ones, and then there were cool ones.
The leader was a cool, young man. He seemed to feel something and turned to shoot a cold glare at Qi Long, which almost froze him.
“Boss, what’s wrong?” a young man behind the leader asked in confusion.
The leader turned around indifferently and replied, “Nothing. Let’s go into the fighting dojo.”
“Yes!” Everyone followed the cool, young man and walked into the large ball-shaped building.
Qi Long knew who these people were. They were Boss Ling Lan and his other friends. That young man who had asked Ling Lan what had happened was Qi Long himself.
This was Qi Long’s memory, but they had gone to the fighting dojo many times in the past. Qi Long didn’t know when this particular episode had occurred out of the many occasions they had gone. What surprised Qi Long was this—how could he be inside his own memories and be watching like a bystander?
Ling Lan and the others entered the fighting dojo, but they didn’t go to watch any fighting compet.i.tions. Instead, they used prestige credits to rent out a private training dojo. They all walked in and then Ling Lan ordered all them to fight each other. Qi Long walked into the high-pressure chamber in the training dojo to train under high gravity. He set the chamber at 16-fold gravity just like he had before.
Qi Long and the others didn’t notice that they could almost take on a 4-fold degree of gravity, while Qi Long could take on 8-fold. Qi Long had even taken on 16-fold gravity before. His best time was a bit more than 3 minutes, which wasn’t as long as the time that Boss Ling Lan could endure.
Qi Long and the others fought in the dojo without a care in the world. They did not discover that as time went on, the 16-fold gravity had become 24-fold unbeknownst to anyone. Then it went from 24-fold to 28-fold. The numbers increased drastically until in the end, it stopped at 64-fold gravity.
During that time, Qi Long had just been watching the fights and had only unintentionally looked at the screen for the gravity pod. However, he didn’t look closely at the numbers that were changing on the screen of the gravity pod. The Qi Long that was in the air watching all this thought to himself, “Maybe I just glanced at those numbers for a second and just ignored them. Now that I’m looking into my own memory as a bystander, I have discovered this.”
It turned out that the pressure their boss could take wasn’t the 16-fold they had previously thought. It was 64-fold instead. Qi Long sighed. “Although we knew Boss is really strong, we didn’t that he was this strong.”
The numbers just showed the gravity was at 64-fold. This continued for around 2 to 3 minutes before the number suddenly began to decrease. In the end, it became 16-fold.
“Bam.” The gravity pod was pushed open. The sound alarmed Qi Long and the others who had been fighting on the side. They turned around to look, but they didn’t see Boss come out. Qi Long walked over and took a peek in Boss’ direction.
Ling Lan suddenly opened her eyes, and the sharp expression on her face made Qi Long unable to look her in the eyes. He quickly stood up straight and waited for his boss to come out.
Ling Lan suddenly grabbed on to the side of the gravity pod and sat up. She paused for a second before jumping from the pod and landing firmly on the ground.
The Qi Long in his memory didn’t see very clearly, but the bystander Qi Long saw everything clearly. His boss had a thin layer of sweat all around his forehead, while his two hands that had held on to the pod’s door were trembling. His landing, that had appeared to be firm, had made him shake a bit uncontrollably. This kind of behavior was what was expected of the Boss. It seemed that the 64-fold pressure had completely exhausted all of Boss’ energy. It was just that at the time, Qi Long hadn’t thought too deeply about it and neglected it carelessly.
Actually, he shouldn’t blame himself for not figuring it out. The display on the screen for the pod still displayed 16-fold pressure, so logically he would think it was 16-fold. That kind of pressure wasn’t even enough to affect Boss. Thus, the small change that Boss had shown was naturally overlooked by them.
“Let’s challenge Boss to a fight now since he’s undergone 16-fold gravity and had his energy exhausted a bit.” Luo Lang saw that Ling Lan had come out from the gravity pod and excitedly made a suggestion.
“Group battle?” Qi Long, who was standing beside Ling Lan, asked.
“Yeah, group battle. Boss versus everyone else.” Luo Lang nodded in agreement. His suggestion was also agreed upon by the others.
At that moment, the bystander Qi Long suddenly realized it. This was his memory from two years ago; it was their first time fighting against Boss as a group and at the same time, the last time as well.
The bystander Qi Long became worried. He clearly knew the answer his boss would give, but he still couldn’t help but yell out, “Boss, don’t agree with us.”
“Alright!” Ling Lan replied plainly. Qi Long’s heart skipped a beat. “You already know you have no energy left. Why would you agree to it?”
Ling Lan slowly walked into the fighting dojo. At the time, Qi Long and the others thought Boss was giving them more pressure by moving into the dojo slowly, but now Qi Long knew that it was because Boss hadn’t had the energy to walk fast. Every step seemed easy but was actually very painful. Qi Long saw Ling Lan’s hands, covered by his sleeves, clench together very tightly. He could even see that with every step Boss took, his sleeves were trembling…