Chapter 554: Little Four’s Word?
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lingtian faced dangerous battle, but the overall situation was stable. The members of Lingtian gradually got better in their mecha operating skills so as long as they maintained their standard, Lingtian would unify the military academy.
As compared to the good news from Lingtian Mecha Clan, Ling Lan’s meditation was not going smoothly.
A few months ago, Ling Lan had managed to merge all her knowledge about mecha piloting and use them smoothly. She was confident that she would be able to make a breakthrough in her hand speed that had been stagnant for over a year. However, she would always lose control at the crucial moment and all her prior efforts would be in vain. She was just a slight distance away from the requirements to advance to an imperial operator.
Ling Lan failed many times and grew slightly frustrated. Why couldn’t she make a breakthrough? She was proficient in the basic controls that her father, her instructors and Instructor Number Three of the learning s.p.a.ce taught her. She had satisfied all their requirements, so she didn’t know what she needed to work on now.
After Ling Lan failed again, she took a deep breath and entered careful contemplation regarding this matter. She knew that she lacked something to achieve her breakthrough, lacked something to become an imperial operator.
“I have nothing that I can practice on anymore and I have completed many dangerous missions in Mecha World. I believe that my temperament has met the requirements as well after so many years of practicing in the learning s.p.a.ce… What on earth do I lack?” Ling Lan rubbed her temples and went deep in thought, but she still couldn’t figure out what she was lacking.
“Boss, don’t be anxious. Why not ask Number Three?” Little Four couldn’t bear to see Ling Lan facing any trouble so he quickly shared his opinion, hoping that it would help Ling Lan.
Ling Lan’s eyes lit up. “Little Four, you’re right. Maybe Instructor Number Three will know what my problem is.” Her mecha piloting was mostly taught by Instructor Number Three; thus, if she had any problems, Number Three would definitely know.
Ling Lan controlled her consciousness and entered the learning s.p.a.ce. She opened the door to Number Three’s room without hesitation and saw Number Three smiling amiably at her. He said, “I thought that you didn’t need me anymore.”
Ling Lan was speechless. What was her teacher trying to say? He made her sound like an ungrateful person… fine, she was in the wrong anyway. She hadn’t thought about seeking help from Instructor Number Three before she meditated herself, so it was understandable that Instructor Number Three would tease her. She deserved it.
Ever since she had finished her lessons with Instructor Number Three when she was 16 years old, she had been figuring things out all by herself for the past two years. This habit made her forget about her Instructor Number Three. She had wasted one month.
Ling Lan knew that she made a mistake, but she didn’t feel remorse or regret. One would definitely make some mistakes or do some stupid things in the process of growing up. There was nothing wrong with this. One just needed to learn from it and listen to other people’s experiences so as to not make the same mistake again.
Ling Lan’s mentality was good. She knew how to criticize herself; hence, she only felt awkward for a moment. Afterward, she asked, “Instructor Number Three, if you can’t bear your loneliness, I recommend Instructor Number Five. He’ll find a solution for you.”
Number Three’s smile froze at her words as he remembered how crazy Number Five was and a chill ran down his spine. He knew that Ling Lan had a good relations.h.i.+p with Number Five. Number Five was extremely satisfied with Ling Lan so he would not reject her most of the time. If Ling Lan had a chat with Number Five, the latter would definitely come and find him… he didn’t want to offend the scary Number Five. Number Three changed the topic quickly. “Ling Lan, why did you come and find me?” He had been observing Ling Lan, so he knew of her current situation.
“I feel that I’m ready. Yet I can’t increase my hand speed for 0.1 seconds. I want to ask whether you know what I am lacking,” Ling Lan asked seriously.
Number Three pondered the matter for a while before replying, “You have to understand the reason for yourself. I can’t just tell you directly. Let me bring you to experience it.”
The moment he finished speaking, Number Three waved his hand and a great force struck Ling Lan, who fell backward and suddenly dropped down.
Ling Lan received a shock upon being hit, but she believed that Number Three would not harm her. She quickly steadied herself and waited for her consciousness to recover.
“Boom.” Ling Lan felt herself being slammed into something and then her body was in so much pain it felt as though she was run over by a car. She got the wrong impression that she was back in her past life, the life where she had to endure unbearable pain all day long.
“h.e.l.lo. Hey, wake up.” She felt someone slapping her face lightly. Ling Lan opened her eyes and saw a young man with sharp ears, blue eyes, golden hair, and some wrinkles on his face. The man was looking at her worriedly.
“Elf?” Ling Lan was stunned for a moment. Did she transmigrate again? Before she could think any further, the explosion beside her shocked her.
“Lan Si, you are finally awake. This is great,” The young man exclaimed happily upon seeing Ling Lan opening her eyes.
“Who are you?” Ling Lan regained her calmness. She knew that this was probably an illusion that the learning s.p.a.ce had created. She had been through many missions in the learning s.p.a.ce and seen many different people. They were all human beings that took the form of people she saw in real life. However, this world looked like that of Greek mythology. The explosions and smoke in the air reminded her that she was not in a world of myth; it was a modern battlefield.
“I am Ji Sheng. Did you hurt your head when you flew away due to the explosion just now?” shouted the young man called Ji Sheng. “Ah, Lan Si, this is bad.”
“Shut up. My head is hurting. It’ll get worse if you scream any more. Tell me what’s happening here.” Ling Lan shot a cold glance at Ji Sheng, who became frightened.
Ji Sheng covered his mouth immediately and shook his head.
“What is this place? What year is this? What are we doing? Why did I faint?” Ling Lan threw a series of questions at Ji Sheng and asked him to reply.
Ji Sheng replied honestly. He wanted to help his friend regain his memory faster so he put down the hands covering his mouth and said quickly, “This is the Mandora star system, planet No. 113. We are in the Mandora star calendar, year 44443-7327. We are fighting against the T21 division. We collided with two enemy planes just now, but we managed to parachute out. Just as we were planning to go back to our base, a missile landed right beside us and you were thrown off by the force. You landed on your head and fainted afterward. I called out to you for a long time before you woke up.”
“Mandora? King mecha learning device?” Ling Lan was shocked. Wasn’t Mandora the place where Little Four came from? Was this Little Four’s world?
“Ah, Lan Si, are you starting to remember everything? You are right. After birth, we would be equipped with the king mecha learning device. We would then wait for the learning device to be activated,” Ji Sheng replied to her happily.
“I have some impression now. However, there are still some gaps in my memory,” Ling Lan replied calmly with a frown.
Ji Sheng, on the other hand, was very happy. Lan Si was getting better. He didn’t recall much, but it was better than nothing.
“The activation of the learning system depends on our innate talent. The stronger your innate talent, the earlier the system will activate. The fastest time recorded was 15 months after childbirth. Of course, that child is an anomaly and will definitely become one of the most powerful king mecha operators in the future,” Ji Sheng continued. He was envious of that child. His own innate talent was merely normal and so he had activated the learning system when he was 8 years old. He had just become an intermediate mecha warrior.
“I remember this. I want to know who our enemies are and where they come from.” Ling Lan stopped Ji Sheng from continuing this topic.
Ling Lan remembered Little Four mentioning how powerful the Mandora star system was. The star systems around them were not their match at all. However, without the experiences on the battlefield, the military strength of a nation would deteriorate. In order to maintain their strength and continue producing outstanding warriors, the Mandora star system combined all their technology and invented the learning system. It allowed the people of the Mandora star system to experience battles in the learning system and henceforth become a mecha expert. Some might even become a king mecha operator.
However, the Mandora star system was experiencing an attack now. There was something amiss going on.
Ji Sheng’s expression dimmed at Ling Lan’s question. “The king mecha learning device is very cruel. The elimination rate is as high as 30%. Some people even ended up harming their brain and becoming mentally disabled because they couldn’t handle the vicious training. Because of this, a portion of the people protested. They felt that this was a scheme by the intelligence ent.i.ties who wanted to control the humans and build their own nation.”
“Intelligence ent.i.ty?” Was he referring to Little Four and her instructors in the learning s.p.a.ce?
“Yes. The Mandora star system is made up of two kinds of people. One group is made up of Mandora citizens like us and the other contains the intelligence ent.i.ties. They were just an intelligent system at the start, but they evolved and started to have their own consciousness. We worked together and created this strong and powerful Mandora star system. To show that the Mandora citizens accepted them wholeheartedly, we used the current mainframe’s name to name the current era. The name would only change when the next mainframe takes over.”
“If that’s what happened, why did the people feel that the intelligence ent.i.ties wanted to control the humans? Survival of the fittest is an old law of nature. They could not suspect the intelligence ent.i.ties just because of this,” Ling Lan asked curiously.
“Someone suggested that the implantation of the learning system was a scheme by the intelligence ent.i.ties to control the Mandora citizens. The intelligence ent.i.ties could kill anyone that resisted against them using the learning system’s chip. After some time, a huge bunch of important talents died suddenly from an explosion in their brain. It almost destroyed an entire generation. People started suspecting that the intelligence ent.i.ties were killing talents among the Mandora people to prepare for their takeover. General Liya also found evidence to support this hypothesis, so the Mandora citizens were enraged and killed all the intelligence ent.i.ties…” Ji Sheng didn’t believe that this was the truth. There was doubt in his eyes. However, he was just a normal person and his opinion would not affect the war at all. The only thing he could do was follow the flow of the crowd.
“Hence, the war started. We are fighting against the intelligence ent.i.ties.” Ling Lan already knew what happened in the Mandora star system, but she was not sure what the result was. Who won the war?
If the intelligence ent.i.ties won and Little Four knew about this war, he must have been produced after it happened. If that was the case, why did the intelligence ent.i.ties continue implanting learning systems in humans? Was it just to cultivate mecha operators? Were they not afraid that humans would go against them again? Were they really aiming to control the Mandora citizens?
Cold sweat fell down her forehead, but Ling Lan regained her senses and calmed down instantly. She rejected this line of thought. She could feel Little Four’s sincerity, which was not something that could be faked. Her instructors were strict and vicious, but their motive was clear; to make her stronger, with the exception of Number Five.
Did the Mandora citizens win, after which the rulers of the country used the learning system again because they knew the benefits it could give? No, if the Mandora citizens won, the rulers would not have gone back on their words. The only possibility was that the learning system was implanted in a small number of people. For instance, their secret military forces…
Ling Lan felt that she had correctly guessed the sequence of events. She felt that the Mandora citizens were stupid, but she was one of them now. She had no choice but to fight with the Mandora citizens.
Having gotten the information she wanted, Ling Lan returned to the base camp with Ji Sheng. They returned to their mecha clan. After resting for two days, they received a new order.
There were 6 people in each mecha clan. Ling Lan was in the same clan as Ji Sheng. There were 4 other mecha operators and they were all intermediate mecha warriors. They were only brought into the army because there were too many warriors on the intelligence team. Almost all the Mandora citizens were mobilized for this war.
Ling Lan got onto her mecha. She was familiar with the Mandora star system’s mechas. Number Three had asked her to research about Mandora star system’s mechas to understand the difference between a good and bad mecha. Ling Lan fiddled with the machine for a few minutes and familiarized herself with the control.
Ji Sheng was shocked when he saw Lan Si operating the mecha so smoothly. “Lan Si, when did your piloting became so good?” They were only able to complete some simple actions and were not able to move their mecha as though it was part of their body.