Ling Lan opened her eyes to find the combat room completely dark, and her father Ling Xiao had already long disappeared.
Glancing at the time on her communicator, Ling Lan found that it was already 1 a.m. of the next day. She had not expected to have used almost a full 12 hours immersed in her Qi exercises.
Ling Lan immediately used her spiritual power to examine her body and found that even though she had used a rather long time, the effects were substantial. The countless horrifying wounds previously littering her body were now completely healed. The scabs over some of the wounds were already beginning to peel off — the speed of this recovery was at least 20% better than conventional healing agents.
Joy gripped Ling Lan"s heart — this would undoubtedly save her the step of going to Li s.h.i.+yu for medical agents. Once she visited Li s.h.i.+yu, her whole team would know about her injuries, and Ling Lan did not want to see her team members" worried faces.
Just as she was rejoicing, a b.l.o.o.d.y and rancid smell invaded Ling Lan"s nostrils. She looked down and saw that her white dux uniform had already turned dark crimson-black from all the blood, and the rank smell was wafting off her clothes. Ling Lan"s brow wrinkled in revulsion. Not in the mood to continue staying here, she immediately opened the combat room"s doors and departed.
At this moment, Ling Lan only wanted to return to her living quarters and take a good shower so she could be clean again.
To avoid others from noticing her strange condition, Ling Lan used her force of presence to envelop the thick scent of blood wafting off her, keeping it from spreading. Then, she swiftly slipped past the guards and staff members on duty, quickly making her way to the accommodation area a.s.signed to the First Men"s Military Academy.
Right when she was about to reach her room, however, Ling Lan"s footstep faltered. Her gaze flickered and the corners of her lips tilted up. She took a deep breath, pushed down the emotion that had risen up in her, and only then did she walk forwards with steady steps. Turning the corner, she saw a group of people, either sitting, squatting, or standing, gathered at her door. Ling Lan could clearly see the anxiety and worry on all of their faces.
These were her little friends — constantly concerned about her! Ling Lan"s heart was filled to the brim with warmth, and her eyes turned red beyond her control. Still, the strong Ling Lan very quickly calmed herself down again, becoming that cool and collected, impenetrable Boss Lan in their eyes once more.
Li Lanfeng and Qi Long turned their heads almost simultaneously. Li Lanfeng, because of his extraordinary spiritual power allowing him to sense a change from a greater distance, and Qi Long, because of his Animal Instinct telling him at soonest notice that something was there.
They turned and saw Ling Lan standing in the distance looking at them and perked up in joy. However, they soon noticed Ling Lan"s outfit which was drenched in blood, and their expressions changed drastically. Qi Long was further unable to stop his powerful force of presence from flaring. His heart was unbelievably anguished — who the h.e.l.l had hurt his boss? He dearly wished he could get his hands on them and tear them apart. The livid Qi Long did not consider this: before an opponent that had managed to harm the formidable Boss Lan, how could he match up?
Qi Long"s s.h.i.+ft in demeanour alerted the others. They all looked at Qi Long, and when they saw Qi Long staring off somewhere with an anguished expression, they were startled and quickly turned to follow his line of sight. When they then saw Ling Lan standing there in her b.l.o.o.d.y clothes, all their faces paled.
Before they could cry out, Ling Lan had instantly come up to Qi Long"s side. She pressed down on Qi Long"s shoulder lightly with her right hand and said softly, "Don"t worry, I"m fine."
Ling Lan"s calm tone eased the tension in Qi Long"s heart, and the oppressive aura around him dissipated.
Li Lanfeng did not believe Ling Lan"s words at all — for his white uniform to be so red, how much blood exactly had Ling Lan bled? How could he really be fine? He reached out a hand to grab hold of Ling Lan as she moved to walk past him and said, "This ... what in the world has happened?"
Ling Lan glanced at her hand clasped in Li Lanfeng"s, and her heart warmed upon seeing the unconcealed care and concern in his eyes. She squeezed his hand in rea.s.surance and said, "Some minor issue came up as I was going through a breakthrough. It"s resolved now."
Everyone gaped at Ling Lan"s words, and Qi Long said excitedly, "Boss, you"ve had another breakthrough?" Qi Long knew that his boss had already successfully advanced to Domain, but he had heard that it was still unstable. Was Boss saying that his Domain was stable now?
Ling Lan knew what Qi Long was asking, and she found that he was right to think what he was when she stopped to think about it, so she nodded at him. This good news was greeted by irrepressible cheers from everyone there. The stronger Ling Lan was, the prouder they were, because Ling Lan was their boss!
The commotion finally drew the attention of a staff on duty outside. He came over and shouted at them, "It"s already so late, what are you all making so much noise for?" He saw so many people standing together and was instantly nervous. "What are you all planning to do? Why are you all not resting at this late hour?"
Han Jijyun stepped out from the crowd and replied, "We"re only studying tactics. We"ll be going back to rest soon."
With that, the staff member relaxed, and then he urged everyone to go back to their own rooms as soon as possible. Ling Lan told the others that they could discuss things further tomorrow via her spiritual power and only then did everyone disperse. Ling Lan had already slipped into her room right before the staff member had approached them.
She had no intention of letting the staff member notice her strange condition. Although she could probably explain it away, it was always better to be cautious and not take unnecessary risks. Ling Lan did not wish for word about this to spread.
The next day, everyone came to Ling Lan"s room, and only after hearing an abridged version of events from Ling Lan were they finally fully rea.s.sured. After that, they all charged towards the compet.i.tion hall. Today, the physical skills compet.i.tion would continue, and some of the other specialization compet.i.tions would also be starting, such as the mecha repair and modification compet.i.tion, the military doctor first-aid compet.i.tion, and the stars.h.i.+p navigation compet.i.tion ...
Each compet.i.tion attracted countless spectators. Meanwhile, the Lingtian Battle Clan would be splitting up on this day, because of the fights taking place today; four of the ten people in the battle clan would be competing at the same time.
Besides Qi Long who would be resuming his physical skills compet.i.tion, Chang Xinyuan would be partic.i.p.ating in the repair and modification compet.i.tion, Li s.h.i.+yu would be partic.i.p.ating in the military doctor first-aid compet.i.tion, and Han Jijyun would be partic.i.p.ating in the stars.h.i.+p navigation compet.i.tion.
Although the repair and modification compet.i.tion was called "repair and modification", the main thing being tested in the compet.i.tion was still repair and maintenance, rather than modification ability. The compet.i.tion required contestants to identify the source of a mecha"s malfunction as quickly as they could, come up with a repair plan, and then use the shortest amount of time possible to fix the mecha. Of course, on top of the basic repairs, if a contestant could make appropriate modifications to improve the mecha"s performance and functionality, their score would be significantly boosted.
There were a total of three people from the First Men"s Military Academy partic.i.p.ating in this compet.i.tion. Aside from Chang Xinyuan, one of the other two contestants was a mecha engineer from the Leiting Mecha Clan, while the other was a mecha engineer from Tianji. However, in Ling Lan"s opinion, among the three, Chang Xinyuan was the strongest and the most likely to become champion. A mecha engineer who could modify an ace mecha ... Ling Lan just could not imagine Chang Xinyuan losing.
For the military doctor first-aid compet.i.tion, Li s.h.i.+yu was their representative. As military doctors in the First Men"s Military Academy could not join any faction, for the past few tournaments, this compet.i.tion had always been left without a representative from the First Men"s Military Academy, considered one of the abandoned events. This time, however, Li s.h.i.+yu from Ling Lan"s team was mercilessly flung out to represent the school in this event.
When Li s.h.i.+yu found out about this, oh how he resented it! Just imagine — he, a dux of the Military Medical Research specialization, actually being relegated to partic.i.p.ate in this first-aid compet.i.tion which involved very little skill ... it was really such a disgrace to him. However, under Ling Lan"s high-pressure manoeuvring, Li s.h.i.+yu could only bite his little handkerchief with teary eyes and mournfully resign himself to his fate.
Having decided to partic.i.p.ate in this compet.i.tion, Li s.h.i.+yu naturally could not let the first place fall to anyone else. If he lost, wouldn"t that be an even greater loss of face for him as a dux?
Meanwhile, the stars.h.i.+p navigation compet.i.tion Han Jijyun was partic.i.p.ating in was the one with the most uncertain chances of winning. Moreover, their little sister Luo Chao would also be partic.i.p.ating in this event under the banner of the First Co-ed Military Academy. In this event, the clever Han Jijyun did not think that he would be able to match Luo Chao. That shy girl who had awakened a navigator"s talent could be said to be heaven-blessed with regards to this event.
Of the remaining six people of Ling Lan"s battle clan, Ling Lan was planning to go support Qi Long at the combat arena. Li Lanfeng was somewhat reluctant to part from Ling Lan, but he also wanted to go cheer for his brother. He was very conflicted, but in the end, he still decided to go to Li s.h.i.+yu"s side ... after some thought, Zhao Jun went to Chang Xinyuan"s event. A mecha engineer who could modify an ace mecha — no matter what, he needed to score some affinity points with the other.
Meanwhile, Xie Yi, Lin Zhong-qing, and Luo Lang decided to go support Han Jijyun, though of course Luo Lang was more likely to be supporting his sister. As for Xie Yi ... he might be going for Luo Lang"s sister"s sake, or perhaps for Luo Lang"s sake? Only Lin Zhong-qing was truly there to support Han Jijyun whole-heartedly. He still remembered that Han Jijyun had been a great help in bringing him on board to follow Boss. He was grateful for that, so within the battle clan, he had the best relations.h.i.+p with Han Jijyun.含泪咬着小手绢: This is in reference to the stereotype of how traditional Chinese maidens react when they feel aggrieved.T/C: Lololol, the author reveals her fujos.h.i.+ side once again. It"s cool, it"s cool, I s.h.i.+p this too. :p