Ling Lan saw Luo Lang and Xie Yi settle down in silence — only then did she close her eyes softly and tap the arms of her seat contemplatively. Soon after, her eyes snapped open and she pointed at the major standing to one side, and said calmly, "I forgot to tell you. This person here is also my hostage! Tell me, what will you use to trade for him?"
"Impossible!" The captain's first reaction was disbelief. He knew the capabilities of the major. On this ship, the major was the strongest after him.
Ling Lan cast a slightly mocking gaze in the direction of the major. "Why don't you tell him the truth?"
The major sighed softly and said, "What he says is right. I am indeed his hostage!" The major would not tell a blatant lie. If Ling Lan had truly wanted to bring him down, it was not impossible ... although Ling Lan would have to expend quite a bit of effort, the major believed that as long as Ling Lan had the time, he was definitely no match for Ling Lan.
Furthermore, during this period of time, the major had come to understand that this seemingly cold and unfeeling youth was in fact very good at toeing the line of propriety. None of the crew members who had been captured by him were in any danger of dying, and even the guard-chief who had been seriously injured in the engine room had already received appropriate treatment to safeguard his life. Thus, he did not want to break his word and escalate the conflict between the two parties. If possible, he wanted to resolve this incident peacefully.The major's words impacted the captain. His expression changed as he found that the matter was more complicated than he had thought. However, Ling Lan's mental blows did not end there. "Well then, let me show you two more video feeds!"
Ling Lan then pulled out the video feeds of the engine room and the living quarters. In the living quarters, all the crew members were all tied up and locked up in a room together. Similarly, in the engine room, the guard troop was also tied up together, but their guard-chief was not tied up, instead just lying weakly on the ground. On the screen, the captain could clearly see a significant amount of blood below the area he was lying on ...
"What happened to Xiao Wan 1 ?" bellowed the captain. Could it be that his guard-chief of the engine room was dead?
"Not dead. He's still alive!" Without any expression on her face, Ling Lan enlarged the image to let the captain see the rise and fall of the other's chest. "However, if you insist on not admitting defeat, then I cannot guarantee how long he will live." Ling Lan's tone was glacial, as if she were not at all concerned whether the other lived or died.
The captain's chest heaved violently; it was clear to see that his emotions were extremely unstable at this moment. However, it was just as Ling Lan had warned — the lives of the entire ship's crew all depended on him.
"Captain, do you still think you have enough bargaining chips to negotiate with me?" Ling Lan quirked a brow at the other, her tone slightly mocking. For some reason, this distinct difference from his initial calm stoniness — this mocking tone — made the captain's sense of danger rise exponentially.
Ling Lan rested her jaw on her right hand and said with a half-smile, "Indeed, with your strength, you can certainly kill any of us here within a second, and perhaps even reclaim control of this ship very quickly ... However, do you think I was just waiting here for you idly, doing nothing at all?"The captain's face twitched but he held it back. He did not stop telling himself in his heart that the other was just trying to scare him — he could not be terrorized by a 16-year-old youth ...
"In fact, during this period of time, I have already given the mainframe a command. If I die, this ship will immediately go 'boom' and become a hunk of debris in this starry sky. In other words, both you and I will not survive. Not just that, those comrades who follow you would die along with us here all because of your choice."
Ling Lan described this horrific outcome in a nonchalant and indifferent tone, that half-smile still on her face. It was as if she were talking about a trivial matter, but there was a wildness in Ling Lan's eyes, proving that everything she said was real.
This psychopathic appearance of hers made even Qi Long and the others who knew Ling Lan well to shiver. Was this somewhat insane Boss Lan still that cold-faced and righteous Boss Lan of theirs?
As if sensing the captain's doubts, Ling Lan prodded the light circles of the mainframe gently, and asked it cheerfully, "Isn't that right, my little mainframe?"
"Yes, it is, my master!" replied the mainframe mechanically. In the back, however, it was weeping: Oh previous master, I'm sorry for lying to you, but my great great great great senior is watching me like a hawk, so I have no choice but to say this!
At these words, the captain's expression darkened. He threw Qi Long from his shoulder onto the ground and pointed at Lin Zhong-qing and the few other people in the room and said angrily, "Do you not value their lives? After they've put so much trust in you, willingly supporting you in this crazy endeavour?"
Ling Lan turned to face the people he indicated, and her cold gaze made Lin Zhong-qing and the others shiver involuntarily. "Do you all want to live on in oppression? Dying with dignity will undoubtedly make them feel honoured. I believe they would all choose this path." With a casual quirk of an eyebrow, Ling Lan asked calmly, "Right?"
Without even thinking about it, Xie Yi replied, "Yes, we'll do as Boss says!" He did not want to be tormented to death by Boss Lan ... in that case, he might as well choose a clean death here.
"Being able to die alongside Boss, it would be our honour!" said Luo Lang with a smile. That smile was unbelievably lovely, not a hint of coercion within it. Luo Lang truly believed in anything Boss Lan decided, so these words of his had no hesitation behind it whatsoever.
"Boss's decision is our decision!" Lin Zhong-qing was very cool about the issue. But it was precisely this cool calmness that convinced the captain that they were truly prepared to sacrifice themselves.
Due to the overwhelming shock, the captain did not notice the small actions that passed amongst Xie Yi, Luo Lang, and Lin Zhong-qing. Meanwhile, the other four also took the hint from the three of them and all began speaking out in support of Ling Lan's decision.
"You're all lunatics!" The captain could only bite out these words in response. Ling Lan's decision gave the captain no avenue to utilise his skills. He dared not move for fear of killing Ling Lan by accident, for the entire ship would self-destruct if that happened.
He roughly wiped a hand across his face and growled, "Speak. What exactly do you all want?"
"For this one day and one night, we are the masters of the ship. Meanwhile, you will all have to satisfy our every need, including teaching us what we wish to learn. When we arrive at the true registration point of the First Men's Military Academy, then I will hand over the administrative rights to the ship," responded Ling Lan, "This is our offer. You are free to reject it, then we shall both perish together."
The captain pointed a trembling finger at Ling Lan, finally choking out, "You're ruthless!"
"If I'm not ruthless, could I have gotten what I wanted?" asked Ling Lan with a quirked brow. If she had not snatched the administrative rights of the ship, would the captain have agreed so easily?
"Also, stop with those tests. They're pointless!" Ling Lan's subsequent words made the captain's and the major's expressions turn awkward — so their actions had long been figured out by the opponent. "If it weren't for those tests, I would not have made such a big deal of things ..."
Ling Lan decisively threw all responsibility for the matter on the other party's shoulders, as if saying that this dramatic outcome was completely the fault of the captain and his team. This frustrated the captain and the major so much that they almost spewed blood.
Hells, they had never seen such a shameless cadet before. Were all new cadets nowadays so arrogant, despicable, and shameless?
"That aside, little mainframe, don't disobey me!" Ling Lan coldly prodded at the mainframe's light rings once more, causing the little body of the mainframe within the virtual space to tremble involuntarily. He hurriedly hugged the thigh of Little Four standing to one side, crying, "Boo hoo hoo, senior's master is really scary!"
Little Four could not help but roll his eyes, wondering somewhat irritably why this little fellow was so gutless? His boss was so nice! Not only was she gentle ... er, maybe not that, and kind-hearted ... er, she seemed to bully him quite a lot too?
Little Four felt himself becoming somewhat confused, but he very quickly cast aside all those doubts, telling himself firmly once more that his boss was the best boss ever! And that was that!
To complete the task that his boss had set for him, the now doubt-free Little Four could only continue to cajole and counsel the mainframe. This patient manner left the impression that his senior was a great and wonderful person in the little fellow's mind, which would eventually lead the little mainframe to help them without any reservations later on in the future when Little Four requested his aid ...
After that, things were much simpler. The captain announced in the ship-wide comms channel that in the duration before they arrived at the destination, the ship shall be controlled by the cadets! This declaration acknowledged the shift in administrative rights. The initially arrogant crew were instantly knocked down to become servants, while the cadets finally achieved their goal of overthrowing their overlords, becoming the masters of the ship from their initial lowly positions of easily bullied peons.
However, the Central Scout Academy students soon received Boss Lan's instructions, hoping that they would take advantage of this opportunity to learn whatever knowledge they were interested in with regards to spaceships 2 . Of course, how they could convince and persuade those crew members to teach them with sincerity all depended on the students' own abilities.
Meanwhile, under the captain's tacit agreement, the crew also began mentoring the cadets in whatever they wanted to learn. Thus, the initially tense atmosphere between the two sides swiftly settled into a calm harmony, with completely no sign that a large conflict had occurred not too long ago.
Just as Ling Lan had predicted, everyone on the ship — from captain to crew member, from mecha operator to repairman and odd-job worker — was actually soldiers of the Federation. Therefore, they would not hate the cadets out of anger at their revolt. They may perhaps be somewhat peeved that they were bested, but they were still extremely admiring of the new cadets' spirit and capabilities — this was also the greatest reason why they were willing to mentor the students despite all that had happened.
These soldiers knew very well that these cadets before them would become the central pillars of the Federation armies six years later ... they were extremely pleased to see a bunch of exceptional warriors appear within their military ranks.
Meanwhile, those students not belonging to the Central Scout Academy did not receive Ling Lan's guidance on what to do. For one, they had not participated in the operation this time (those that did were also advised by Ling Lan), so Ling Lan felt that she was not obligated to give them any hints. And second, if the student was mindful, he would definitely be able to figure out the objectives of the Central Scout Academy students. Just by observing their speech and actions, those students should know what to do.
As for those that were a little slow who just did not sense anything ... Ling Lan did not believe they would be able to progress much in the future anyway. The opportunity was the same for everyone — whoever could grab hold of it would make their own luck.
And those who were truly strong would not let these lucky chances slip by!
