Major General Jing Ren 1 said plaintively, "Every time you pass through here, you never come over to visit me."
"You know that one of us, either I or Tian Fang, have to remain with the 7th Bugle Call," said Luo Yang with a wry smile.
"I shouldn't have let you go with Tian Fang from the start. If you had followed me, right now you too should already be a senior colonel." Major General Jing Ren glanced coolly at Tian Fang, as if blaming Tian Fang for holding back Luo Yang's progress.
Senior Colonel Tian Fang could only rub his nose and stay silent. At the beginning, it was indeed he that had clung to Luo Yang and begged him to help him, because he knew that it was impossible for him with his brash and forthright personality to handle all those miscellaneous trivial things associated with running a ship. Thus, he had to find a trustworthy friend to help him, and Luo Yang was his only choice.
"But, why could you both come down this time?" asked Jing Ren curiously."Because the 7th Bugle Call is currently undergoing a system reset, so there's nothing I can do there anyway," replied Luo Yang.
"Reset?" Jing Ren's face paled slightly. "What in the world happened?" Unless something major occurred or the system became corrupted, there would be no need to reset the system — it looked like the 7th Bugle Call had indeed gone through some major incident.
Luo Yang and Tian Fang glanced at each other and smiled wryly. In the end, Luo Yang was the one who answered, "Honestly, this incident could be seen as major, but could also be seen as minor. Our ship was taken over by the new cadets from Doha."
"Personnel control?" Jing Ren saw the wry smiles on their faces and his expression changed drastically, "Could it be that the administrative rights of the ship changed hands?"
Senior Colonel Tian Fang chuckled dryly and said, "Exactly!" If not for this reason, would anyone on board have been able to control a Domain master like himself?
It took a long while for Jing Ren's fluctuating complexion to ease and recover. His expression was grim as he said, "This matter must not be discovered by military headquarters. Otherwise, both of you will be punished, perhaps even court-martialled if you're unlucky."
"With so many cadets involved, this matter may not be able to be contained," said Luo Yang, "However, as long as one person is willing to help, we will be fine."Jing Ren's expression twitched, "What do you mean?"
"As long as General Ling Xiao is willing to bury this incident ..."
"General Ling Xiao!" shouted Jing Ren, "How would that be possible? For what reason would he move to help us?"
"Because, the head of the new cadets who successfully conquered the 7th Bugle Call was none other than General Ling Xiao's son. If we don't ask him to resolve this, who should we ask instead?" Senior Colonel Tian Fang threw down a bomb directly.
"What?! General Ling Xiao has a son?" Jing Ren was in disbelief. He covered his forehead with his left hand and waved his right hand at them, saying, "Hold on, let me organise my thoughts for a moment. This news is a bit too much, my brain's CPU can't process it so quickly."
Finally, Major General Jing Ren regained his composure. He thought for a moment — it was true that the only one who could intervene and would be willing to intervene was General Ling Xiao. However, Major General Jing Ren was still a little worried. "Will General Ling Xiao intervene just because his son was involved?"
Senior Colonel Tian Fang chuckled and said, "Before he left, Ling Lan hinted for me to go seek out General Ling Xiao!"
"This Ling Lan is General Ling Xiao's son then? Had he already considered the consequences?" If that was the case, this youth Ling Lan was really not simple. A brilliant gleam of light flashed across Jing Ren's eyes.
"Whether it was in terms of skill or strategy, he was very strong. His future achievements are very likely to be no less outstanding than General Ling Xiao's." Luo Yang greatly admired Ling Lan, believing that the other's future was immeasurable.
"That brat is as bold as brass, and his heart is strong enough to make hard decisions, no matter whether it's against himself or his companions. Even I am a little chilled by how ruthless he can be ..." said Senior Colonel Tian Fang with a solemn expression as he stroked his jaw, "I'm very worried he will go too far."
Senior Colonel Tian Fang had a different opinion than the major. He was afraid that after this triumph, Ling Lan would become even more uninhibited. If he encountered someone even more ruthless than himself, he might spiral awry terribly.
"He is only sixteen years old," Luo Yang reminded Tian Fang, "There are too many future possibilities, we cannot just come to a conclusion so soon!"
Tian Fang fell silent, but the worry in his heart was not completely quelled. Ling Lan was indeed abnormally exceptional on so many fronts, but the more aberrant one was, the more terrible the consequences if one ended up on the wrong path.
"Hey, what are you worrying for? Isn't he General Ling Xiao's son?" Jing Ren reminded Tian Fang. With the large tree Ling Xiao to provide shade, they should not be worrying over mere conjectures.
Tian Fang was enlightened and instantly broke out into laughter. In his mind, he felt somewhat awed at the fact that Ling Lan had left such a deep impression on him that it had made him forget about General Ling Xiao. How fearsome was his force of presence that it could suppress the thought of his personal idol ...
********
Meanwhile, at this moment, Ling Lan and company were making their glorious way to the venue prepared for the new cadets to eat and rest —— the fortress cafeteria. They had already been notified by the guides that they would board a new spaceship at 5pm in the afternoon to begin the next leg of their journey.
"Boss Lan, it's just as you predicted. This is a transfer station," said Han Jijyun softly. Ever since Ling Lan had found out that their destination was here, she had predicted that this was very likely just a transit point, and it was now proven that Ling Lan's prediction was right.
Such a large party suddenly entering the cafeteria, dressed in attire which was not Federation military uniform — it was obvious that these people were new cadets of the military academy. However, this batch of cadets all had smiles on their faces, easy and carefree, and when they entered the cafeteria, they were not as quiet as the other cadets before them. Quite a few of them were happily chatting with one another, the atmosphere of the group exceptionally lively.
The attention of all the other new cadets in the cafeteria was instantly drawn to the group, all of them trying to guess which planet these people were from.
At a round table in a corner, a group of about ten cadets was also looking at the party. One of the cadets, a youth with a cultured and refined air, had a contemplative expression on his face.
"Zhou Ya? What have you discovered?" A youth with a lazy expression by his side noticed his serious expression, and spoke up to ask.
The contemplative youth was jolted out of his thoughts. His brow furrowed and he said, "Wang Hui, this batch of people are not simple. We should not cross them for no reason." Zhou Ya glanced at his companion beside him, and gave these words of caution.
"Oh?" Wang Hui did not seem to think much of his friend's warning, and his expression reflected his nonchalance.
"The group is not divided. They all chose to sit together. This means that there must be a central figure among them, perhaps someone strong enough that everyone is willing to defer to ... we have just entered the military academy. Before we figure out the other's strength, it is best we do not offend them simply." Zhou Ya did not think that they could go up against these several hundred people with just the ten of them. Even if his group were all exceptionally capable, they could not hope to prevail against those many fists.
At this time, a youth who had been outside scouting for information returned and leaned over by Wang Hui's ear to elaborate on the others' background. Wang Hui's expression, which had tightened up a little due to Zhou Ya's words, became relaxed once more after hearing what the scout had to say. He said mockingly, "So they are from Doha. What use is there even if they have more people? Who have they produced over these past couple of years? Haven't they still been pushed below our Wuji Galaxy 2 for three consecutive years, unable to do anything about it?"
"Although Doha has not produced anyone of note these last few years, it is still the gathering ground of the various notable prodigies of the Federation, after all. We cannot underestimate them." Zhou Ya was undoubtedly cautious — before they found out more about the other, he did not approve of offending the other without good reason.
"Alright, I'm not going to argue with you. As long as they don't bother us, I definitely won't bother them first." Wang Hui finally lifted his hands in surrender after Zhou Ya's multiple warnings. He then changed the topic and said, "Zhou Ya, Do you get the feeling that their expressions are a little different from those of the other cadets from the other planets? It's as if they did not receive much suffering. Could it be that they were not harassed by the crew of their ship at all?"
It should be known that along the way, they had been harassed endlessly by the crew on their ship. Although they had tried to resist at first, as they saw the numbers the other side had, as well as the other side's strength, they had had no choice but to lower their heads in submission. However, perhaps because the ten of them had proved themselves stronger than the other cadets by a head, those crew members had seemed to go a little easier on them. The crew had not bullied them as harshly as they had with the other students, almost causing those other cadets to lose their confidence.
Zhou Ya too had this doubt in his mind. "This, is also something I would like to know." Why could they still maintain the brimming confidence and haughtiness of their youth? After this journey, even the always cocky Wang Hui had become much more reserved, knowing how to take a step back and take others' reactions into consideration.
Zhou Ya mumbled to himself, "We'll be travelling with them later on. We'll definitely be able to find out some answers to this mystery."
There were not many people in the cafeteria; Ling Lan and the others very easily found a relatively spacious area to sit at. As usual, Ling Lan's team, Wu Jiong's team, and Li Yingjie's team each took a round table, while the other teams spread out to settle around the tables circling these three teams. Ever since finding out that these teams before them had orchestrated the conquest of the ship, giving them the learning opportunities on the ship, those students who were not from the Central Scout Academy too did not want to get separated from these strong teams.
Any student who could get into the First Men's Military Academy was definitely intelligent; they knew which option was better for them. Thus, they too followed the example of the Central Scout Academy students, choosing seats alongside them to sit in. This conspicuous unity raised flags among the other groups of students.
Several youths who were rather close to Ling Lan's end even left their original seats to choose somewhere farther away to sit.
Right then, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie walked over to greet Ling Lan, saying, "Boss Lan, we have something to discuss with you."
Ling Lan indicated for the two to sit down.
Li Yingjie peered at those other cadets who were side-eyeing them with vaguely palpable animosity, and scoffed, "Looks like they don't welcome us here."
Wu Jiong laughed and said, "Was our entrance too grand?"
Ling Lan thought for a moment and nodded. "Just a little! I think, as the number of cadets increase, there will only be more people who hate us."
Li Yingjie was just about to say something when he saw ten or so people giving trouble to the Doha cadets at the fringes of the circle. He frowned and said, "There's someone looking for trouble with us?"
Wu Jiong had also seen it. "It's not our Central Scout Academy. They're bothering the cadets from the other Doha scout academies."
"Should we help?" Qi Long looked towards Ling Lan. Even if those people were not from their Central Scout Academy, they were still from Doha, companions from the same planet. Qi Long did not want to see them being bullied.
"Let's leave this to Li Yingjie." Ling Lan's words made the small group turn to look at her in shock.
"Why?" asked Li Yingjie with a disgruntled expression. Hells, it wasn't like he was Ling Lan's follower ... what right did Ling Lan have to order him around?
