Li Lanfeng waited with bated breath for the intermediate mecha's reply, but the other was unexpectedly silent. The combat room was thrust into a still silence.
Li Lanfeng's heart drooped lower and lower as time passed — did this silence mean denial? Right then, an alert rang out suddenly inside his cockpit. Li Lanfeng clicked on the notification by reflex, and saw that it was an alert for a friend request. It was from someone called [Lingtian First-String], and there was a message included: Leopard, let's talk some other time.
Li Lanfeng's heart was instantly brimming with happiness. He tried to click on 'accept' immediately, but his initially extraordinarily nimble hands and fingers, which could execute really challenging advanced mecha warrior moves, were suddenly weak and slow. He tried tapping the screen three times in succession and actually failed every single time.
Li Lanfeng took in a deep breath, and then steadying his right hand with his left, he firmly pressed the 'accept' button.
When he saw the name [Lingtian First-String] appear on his friends list, Li Lanfeng felt his entire body go weak, his eyes beginning to prickle with warmth. He quickly raised his head, holding back the tears of joy which had been about to flow out ...After searching for so long, he had finally reconnected this friendship which had been interrupted for 7 years! Dear Heavens, even though you were the one to condemn me to a Phoenix Thrall Fate, at this time, I still want to thank you. Thank you for giving me this chance!
Zhao Jun saw the intermediate mecha log off without answering Li Lanfeng's question and was instantly livid. "F*ck, how could he be so cold and unfeeling? Is it really that hard to answer yes or no?" Of course, he was just grumbling for the sake of it; after all, to answer or not to answer was the other's right. Zhao Jun was just irritated on behalf of his good friend Li Lanfeng. Even though Li Lanfeng had never said anything about it to him, Zhao Jun still vaguely knew that Li Lanfeng had been looking for someone in the mecha world all this time over the past four years.
Zhao Jun's disgruntled words shook Li Lanfeng from his joyful reverie. He quickly said, "No, Zhao Jun, he has already told me the answer ..."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was flummoxed. But he clearly had not heard the other say anything ...
Li Lanfeng did not explain, only continuing on excitedly, "I'll tell you about it later. Let us go!" That said, he left the private room.
Zhao Jun could only scratch his head helplessly. Since Li Lanfeng had said he would tell him later, then he had no choice but to wait for later. Although he really would like to know now, he could do nothing since his friend was very tight-lipped 1 . Fortunately, his patience had already been trained up by hanging out with Li Lanfeng over these past few years, otherwise he would certainly have been suffocated by his need to know. At this thought, Zhao Jun could only sigh softly and follow Li Lanfeng as he left the room.
Once Ling Lan saw that the other had accepted her friend request, she had logged off. It wasn't that she did not want to catch up with the other, but her father had just logged off to hurry to the assessment venue. It would not be appropriate for her to linger here; after all, officially, she was on duty to accompany Ling Xiao.Later on, after saying goodbye to her father, Ling Lan returned to her living quarters. At this time, Qi Long and the other five were still not back from their training classes yet. Ling Lan did not wait for them, instantly logging onto Mecha World. Ling Lan believed that that stupid leopard must definitely still be in Mecha World waiting for her.
Sure enough, the moment she was online, she received a voice message from [Self-Defined Destiny]. "Rabbit, where are you?" Damm*t, was she still a rabbit now? 2 In the past, she had already told him not to call her 'rabbit', but this fellow just would not change — doing the same even now.
Ling Lan could not help but roll her eyes. She really wanted to pretend she heard nothing, but she could hear the other's anxiety in his voice. Thinking about how they had not seen each other for 7 years and how it had indeed been extremely difficult for them to meet again, she decided to be merciful and forgive him this once. And so, Ling Lan replied coolly, "Leopard, come to the mecha combat main hall."
In less than a minute, she saw an advanced mecha entering the doors of the combat hall, sprinting over to her side. "Rabbit, I'm here." The advanced mecha ostentatiously waved at her, but that special-class mecha which had been with him was nowhere to be seen.
"Leopard, why isn't your friend here?" asked Ling Lan curiously.
"I did not know whether you would mind, so I asked him to go ahead," replied the leopard mecha, now [Self-Defined Destiny], with a smile.
Ling Lan stared flatly at [Self-Defined Destiny] — hells, did she come off as such a small-minded person? Besides, the leopard mecha was just some random stranger she had met in the virtual world ... what gave him the confidence to believe that she would rank him so important in her mind? That she would care if he had other friends? Hng hng, if he only knew she had countless little companions by her side she had grown up with, that five of them were as close and intimate with her as could be ...
As expected, the leopard mecha had an uncanny rapport with her. As if sensing Ling Lan's thoughts, he hurried to explain, "I was thinking to introduce you to him after obtaining your permission ..."
This greatly appeased Ling Lan's dragon heart 3 — so it was true that the leopard respected her immensely, just as he had back then. Nothing had changed.
Thus, Ling Lan said, "It's really fine. In future, you can just bring anyone you want to."
At these words, [Self-Defined Destiny]'s smile deepened and he replied boisterously, "Understood!"
Ling Lan rubbed her brow helplessly and asked, "How did you recognise me earlier?" This was a question both she and Little Four were wondering — after all, it's been 7 years and she had even changed her mecha; there was nothing of before. Although the other was a spectre, Little Four was certain that the other had not used his spectre abilities to check them out, so there was no reason for him to have identified her ...
"Your stomp technique is no ordinary stomp technique. In every assessment, you would use it, how could I forget it?" replied [Self-Defined Destiny] with a smile, "If you stop using it, then I would have no way to recognise you anymore." [Self-Defined Destiny] could not help but rejoice in his heart that the other had coincidentally displayed these basic controls, allowing him to find the other.
[Self-Defined Destiny]'s words enlightened Ling Lan and Little Four instantly. So it had been Ling Lan's habitual movements which had exposed her.
"I believe that, in this world, only you would know this technique. Seven years ago we lost contact, causing me to look for you for these whole seven years. And now I've finally found you," sighed [Self-Defined Destiny].
Ling Lan found herself rather embarrassed now. Over these past 7 years, she had never once logged onto Mecha World, instead spending her time completing the learning space's missions or working on her father's legacy; [Self-Defined Destiny]'s 7 years of effort could be said to be completely futile.
"Is that imperial operator from your sect?" [Self-Defined Destiny] asked curiously.
"Er ... yes," replied Ling Lan after a brief hesitation. She was not purposefully trying to hide anything, but this was her first reunion with the leopard after so long, so there were some things that just could not be explained properly. Even though she and the leopard mecha shared a great rapport and she also greatly appreciated the friendship between them, he was still someone that she had met in the virtual world after all — Ling Lan could not treat him like how she treated Qi Long and her other real world companions and trust him fully. However, Ling Lan's reply was not a lie either. She had inherited her father Ling Xiao's legacy, so of course she belonged to the same sect as her father.
"I had thought so with just one glance. Every move of that imperial operator was utilising the 4 simplest basic movements in defensive controls — block, push, obstruct, and hold 4 . Without using any bit of extraneous force, minimalist to the extreme ... it's like what you told me at the start. Completely mastering the basic controls and using them harmoniously, making them truly part of our natural instinct," exclaimed [Self-Defined Destiny] in awe.
Ling Lan was startled by these words, and quickly asked, "Our fight, did you record it?"
[Self-Defined Destiny] replied sheepishly, "I'm sorry, without obtaining permission, I recorded it. If you mind, I'll immediately delete it."
"No need. I only hope you can make a copy for me. I would also like to take a look." Even though Little Four had also recorded the fight, there were some things that just could not be seen clearly from a first-person perspective. Perhaps viewing the fight from a third-person perspective would allow her to see things clearer.
"Okay." [Self-Defined Destiny] immediately sent the video file over to Ling Lan. When Ling Lan received it, she instantly opened it and began to watch it.
Li Lanfeng saw [Lingtian First-String] become still and silent, and just knew that the other must be fully absorbed in watching the video. He smiled knowingly — he was just too familiar with this state of the rabbit. Oftentimes, when the rabbit had learnt a new movement or had a good idea or some insight, he would descend into this sort of acutely focused state, as if no one else existed around him. This brought Li Lanfeng back to the beginning ... every time this happened, he would always sit silently beside the rabbit mecha and wait patiently for the rabbit mecha to surface from his thoughts.
After approximately 5 minutes, Li Lanfeng finally heard [Lingtian First-String] sigh and say, "As expected, from your perspective, his impressiveness is even more pronounced."
Only now did Ling Lan feel how amazing her father Ling Xiao was. Now her father's basic controls were what could truly be called the best of the best. Even though it had only been the simplest of defensive motions, whether it was the timing of the interception or the motion itself, everything was perfectly calculated. Each defensive move had been applied when her power was at its weakest point. Moreover, each time, the hand motions of Ling Xiao's mecha had been extremely small — it was clear to see that the drain on the mecha's energy had been contained at the minimum baseline. Ling Lan believed that even if her father had been controlling a trainee mecha against her barrage of wild attacks, he would still be able to block and defend against them all using the least amount of energy.
Her father's control was what could truly be called basic controls. Compared to her father, Ling Lan's basic controls were undoubtedly still much too fancy and elaborate; compared to her father, she still had a really long way to go.
"The imperial operator is naturally very impressive. Basic controls are truly very interesting. In future, I must learn from you and use lower mecha to train my advanced mecha basic controls and techniques. This way, I should be able to experience more of the true essence of basic controls." [Self-Defined Destiny] stared at Ling Lan with starry eyes, as if saying, wasn't he such a smart cookie?
Ling Lan could not help but sweatdrop, uncertain how she should respond. Was she supposed to say that she had only done so because she did not have enough points accumulated to redeem a better mecha?
Still, thinking about it, using a lower mecha to execute advanced mecha techniques did indeed demand a lot from the operator. It was very challenging, which was not a bad thing for an operator, and may perhaps truly aid him in his development. At this thought, Ling Lan decided not to say anything. This was because she also really did not know how to explain to the other why she still did not have enough points to redeem an advanced mecha after these 7 years.
Just like this, because Ling Lan did not know how to explain and also felt that this was harmless to the other, she chose to remain silent. This led Li Lanfeng to think that his assumption was correct, thus pushing him onto this path of no return, eventually leading to the creation of a legendary path belonging solely to himself ...
