Doha. As the centre of the Federation, its intergalactic spaceport was also the largest and most luxurious of all the planets in the Federation. The spaceport was built in the outer space of the planet; the room inside it about the size of a city on the planet. Meanwhile, the staff of the spaceport all lived in the spaceport city. Other than a difference in gravity, everything else felt no different from being on the planet itself.
Connecting the spaceport and the planet was a specialised rocket car, while the heart of the spaceport itself was a special platform for it. It would receive the specialised rocket cars from various cities from all over. It could be said that the liveliest and most hectic place in the entire spaceport with the most people was right here. Even during normal periods, it would serve several hundred thousand people every day.
Moreover, today was one of the busiest days of the spaceport, because today was the day when the military academies and the myriad other famous schools held their annual registration. For this reason, all students who needed to register today were rushing to the spaceport with their guardians, causing the entire spaceport to be raucous with the cacophony of human voices as they said their goodbyes.
As the central planet of the Federation, Doha's spaceport was massive, possessing several tens of thousands of navigation frames for interstellar ships to park on. The respective military academies and other renowned schools already had their exclusive ships parked at the various ports, ready to welcome their incoming students. They were only waiting for the students to come and present their acceptance letters to gain entry.
Of course, these spaceships were definitely not going to be at the three districts, X, Y, and Z. Those three districts were restricted for military affairs, only available for combat warships to park at. Regular spaceships were not permitted to enter.Meanwhile, at this time, in one corner of the hall of the special platform, several youths were gathered. One of the youths was squatting on the floor, a large steamed bun in each hand, while a ham sausage dangled from his mouth as he chewed on it ravenously, as if there was no one else around him. His crassness made the youths who passed by, as well as their guardians, frown reflexively.
"Xie Yi, can you maintain a little dignity?" Among those standing, a youth with looks like a maiden could not help but gripe at the squatting youth, frowning.
"Luo Lang, I'm hungry ..." With great difficulty, Xie Yi found time between bites to say this. This group was precisely Qi Long's team which had agreed to meet up and register together.
"Didn't you eat breakfast before coming?" Luo Lang glared disapprovingly at Xie Yi. Hells, it was almost ten! When exactly had this fellow woken up?
Xie Yi lunged at one hand then the other, and with two large manic bites, the steamed buns in his hands vanished just like that. He did not even chew them much before swallowing them down — however, this manner of eating, which only prioritised speed and not quality, immediately taught Xie Yi a lesson. He, the handsome and brave, infinitely charming Xie Yi was actually choked by the buns ...
Xie Yi pounded his chest desperately. At the side, Lin Zhong-qing saw that the situation did not look right; he hurriedly took out a bottle of water from his backpack, uncapped it, and passed it to Xie Yi.
The moment Xie Yi got his hands on the bottle, he threw his head back and began pouring the water into his mouth, finally catching his breath as the buns slid down. "Damn, that was too dangerous. I actually thought that I would choke to death just now!" That said, he continued to pat his chest weakly in remembered fear, silently thankful for his luck."Who asked you to eat so quickly? It's like you haven't eaten your whole life," said Luo Lang, glaring at Xie Yi with contempt.
Xie Yi mumbled lowly, "If I wasn't trying to answer your question, would I have eaten so quickly?"
"What question?" Luo Lang blinked blankly, and then thinking back, he realised what it was and said, "That question about not eating breakfast?" Did that really need an answer? Just by looking at Xie Yi's ravenous manner, one could tell that he hadn't eaten breakfast for sure.
"Hehe, isn't this all because I was too excited to sleep last night? So I overslept today, and didn't have time to eat breakfast ..." Xie Yi was not at all embarrassed, loudly announcing the reason why he had not eaten breakfast.
"What are you so excited for? Isn't it just going to the First Men's Military Academy?" Luo Lang rolled his eyes in exasperation, face filled with contempt.
They had even gone on an interplanetary adventure already — Luo Lang, who considered himself a mature man now, was already extremely calm over their entrance into the First Men's Military Academy. Honestly, Luo Lang was also very excited inside his heart, but he just wasn't as exaggerated about it as Xie Yi was. Of course, he would never admit to this.
Luo Lang's contempt caused Xie Yi to 'tsk' in response. "That's not why I'm excited ..." He lifted his head to look towards Qi Long, his expression filled with emotion, "Isn't it all because last night, the team leader mentioned that Boss Lan will come today to send us off ... I was really moved by that."
Ever since he had met Ling Lan two months ago at the assessment venue, he had been constantly seeking his answer. Finally, during the team's adventure, he felt that he had found his role. However, they had not had a chance to meet with Ling Lan, so he had also not been able to tell Ling Lan the answer he had found.
During their adventuring, although Qi Long and the others would often contact Ling Lan through virtual communication, during those times, Xie Yi had somehow felt like he was an outsider. Even though Ling Lan would nod at him in greeting as well through the screen, not ignoring him, he just had the feeling that, whenever Ling Lan appeared, he would be subconsciously pushed to the side by the companions by his side ...
Even more depressing was that the few times he tried to tell Ling Lan his answer through the screen, the moment his eyes met Ling Lan's stony expression and that pair of cold piercing eyes that seemed as if they could see through his soul, he had become unable to speak.
With regards to this, Xie Yi had to admit that he had an indescribable sense of apprehension towards Ling Lan deep in his heart. This made him not dare to speak recklessly. However, today's meeting would be a great chance. He would not retreat anymore — he would definitely tell Ling Lan what his answer was.
Xie Yi's words caused Luo Lang's expression to become serious. As long as it was related to Ling Lan, Luo Lang's attitude would always become serious. In his heart, Ling Lan was the only peer he trusted and would submit to, an inviolable boss.
Yes, he would not submit to the number two in name, Wu Jiong, or the one who had battled him constantly for third place (sometimes winning, sometimes losing), Li Yingjie, or even the nominated team leader of their team, Qi Long. But he would never not submit to Ling Lan, who had always been formidable, mysterious, and unfathomable since they were young.
This was a kind of unvoiced respect and admiration that had been built up since they were young. With the increment of age, this respect and admiration only grew deeper and deeper, until it finally reached a point where it was indissoluble. In other words, Luo Lang would only submit to one person in this life; he would only recognise one boss, and that would be Ling Lan.
"Xie Yi is right. When I received leader's message, I blanked out completely, almost believing I had heard wrong ..." said Lin Zhong-qing wonderingly.
In Lin Zhong-qing's impression, the cold and dominant Boss Lan would never do such a heart-warming thing like sending them off. He was more likely to send a hologram which would throw down this cold statement: "Don't disgrace me when you are there!" And then all kinds of twisted charm-dominance-coolness-swag 1 would follow, and all that was left for them would be an incomparably lofty silhouette which would then slowly fade away ...
Which was why when Lin Zhong-qing had heard the news, he had been dumbfounded. He did not even remember when he had hung up his communicator on Team Leader Qi Long, where he had then shuffled off to eat a tasteless dinner, and then blurrily drifted off to his bed to fall asleep miraculously. Only when he woke up the next day and bit his arm hard did he realise that he really had not misheard.
Right then, standing to one side, Qi Long could not resist speaking up as well, "You don't have to mention yourself, even I was stunned silly when I received Boss Lan's video-call. My first thought was that I must be dreaming, that the person on the other side was definitely not my boss ..."
Han Jijyun could not bear to listen to this any longer; he said sternly, "Alright, well, the fact of the matter is, Boss Lan is indeed coming to send us off. Buck up, all of you. Don't let Boss be dissatisfied."
Three years ago, due to Qi Long's emotional imbalance, the unhappy Boss Lan had immediately thrown down an assignment, causing them to go through countless torments and suffer terribly 2 . Han Jijyun really did not want for a repeat of that with yet another three-year mission because Boss Lan was unhappy with their conditions ... he would most definitely collapse if that happened.
Han Jijyun's words caused the other people to shudder involuntarily as well. Even the typically slouching and unmotivated Xie Yi changed his original demeanour, becoming spirited and enthusiastic. That mission three years ago had truly frightened the wits out of them. They dared not try something like that again easily.
Seeing his companions change gears into their dashing and energetic personas, Han Jijyun turned with satisfaction to look at the time on his wrist communicator. "It'll be 10 in another three minutes. Boss said to meet at the great hall of platform number 9 right around 10, so he should be here soon."
They all glanced reflexively at their own communicators. Seeing that Han Jijyun was right, they all came to attention and began waiting with their heads lifted high, peering greedily at the crowd coming to and fro on the hall of the platform, hoping to see their boss among them ...
Behind them, in a row of seats by a wall, in a semi-reclined seat, a person who had seemed to be dozing with their face hidden behind a freshly-printed Federation magazine suddenly sat up straight.
This person was wearing an extremely simple white shirt, which was topped by a thin army-green windbreaker, black pants, held up by a gold-buckle belt, and on their feet was a pair of black army boots. This outfit should have been eye-catching, making its wearer appear handsome and spirited, but for some reason the wearer was extremely nondescript, just as if they were a regular pedestrian, causing others to overlook the other instinctively ...
He slowly pulled off the magazine covering his face, revealing a cold and expressionless face. Looking intently at the group of youths trying to find their target, the corners of his lips curled up involuntarily, breaking the ice to allow a faint sense of warmth to appear on his body.
He stuffed the magazine in his hand into the backpack by his side, and then slung the backpack over his shoulder as he walked slowly towards the backs of Qi Long and the others. As his footsteps made almost no sound, Qi Long and the rest did not realise at all that someone was now at their backs.
"Not right!" Suddenly sensing something, Qi Long abruptly turned his head around. At critical moments, Qi Long's innate talent Animal Instinct kicked in.
Qi Long's sudden movement startled the others, who then also turned reflexively. Luo Lang even moved into an attack stance at first notice.
"Boss!" exclaimed Qi Long, voice hoarse with shock, "How did you get behind us?"
Mind you, the place where they had been standing put the entire crowd entering and exiting the platform within their range of sight. There should be no way for someone to avoid their sight to appear directly behind them. Could it be that Boss had the miraculous ability of teleportation? Qi Long could not help but wonder irresponsibly.
