"Gao Jinyun, what do you think?" Into the cold silence, Ling Lan finally opened her mouth, but unexpectedly called out Gao Jinyun.
This caused Wu Jiong sitting by her side to raise his brows in surprise. Li Yingjie was at first rather puzzled, but he quickly turned to stare curiously at Gao Jinyun, wanting to know what about this person had gained Boss Lan's approbation.
Ling Lan's direct callout stunned Gao Jinyun, but he was instantly taken by wild joy. In contrast to the other team leaders who did not know Boss Lan's full strength, having been saved by Ling Lan once before, he naturally knew how powerful Boss Lan was now. Everyone felt that the Lingtian Mecha Clan was sure to lose, but he did not agree. Leiting, who did not understand Boss Lan's full strength, was sure to once again lose to the Lingtian Mecha Clan ...
And now, for Ling Lan to personally ask his opinion, did this mean he had successfully entered Boss Lan's esteem? The very thought energized Gao Jinyun, but still, he knew deep down that if he could not say anything constructive or insightful now, he was likely to waste this opportunity.
Therefore, Gao Jinyun forcefully repressed the excitement churning within him and considered the situation carefully for a moment before saying measuredly, "Regiment Commander Ling, since you've asked for my opinion, then let me say a little about this. If I say anything wrong, I beg the pardon of the regiment commanders and team leaders here."Gao Jinyun's demeanour was very humble, greatly improving his impression in the eyes of the team leaders present, eliminating the possible friction which might have arisen from envy. Wu Jiong's eyes flashed at his words — he had not expected that there would be such a capable team leader in the mecha clan who was not from their academy; he had neglected this possibility.
After Gao Jinyun finished setting the scene, he finally explained his view. "Indeed, the Leiting Mecha Clan is very strong, and moreover, their regiment commander, Thunder King Qiao Ting, is the only publicly known ace operator in the military academy among the cadets ..." At this point, Gao Jinyun glanced reflexively at Boss Lan, but he very quickly reeled his gaze back and continued to say, "But I don't think our Lingtian Mecha Clan has no chance of winning at all."
Ling Lan's lips quirked. This Gao Jinyun was an interesting character, because he did not announce to the others that she was an ace operator. Instead, he used his words so adeptly — anyone who knew what's what would understand the hidden meaning behind Gao Jinyun's words.
Sure enough, when Ling Lan's team members heard what Gao Jinyun said, they smiled lightly in unplanned unison; it looked like they had all caught the connotation of Gao Jinyun's words.
Even though the others could not grasp the true meaning of Gao Jinyun's words, their spirits rallied when they heard that their mecha clan was not completely sure to lose. Li Yingjie was particularly impatient, instantly speaking up to ask, "What do you mean?"
"Over this period of time, I have seriously studied the mecha battles between mecha clans. Although there are no restrictions whatsoever with regards to the team leader, there are limitations on the number of team members and their levels. Especially for challenge battles where senior cadets are up against cadets junior to them, the restrictions are even greater."
Gao Jinyun's reminder sparked Wu Jiong's memory and he instantly understood what the other was getting at. He nodded emphatically and said, "Gao Jinyun is right. I actually forgot that challenge fights had these regulations." Wu Jiong rapped his own head in frustration, smiling wryly as he said, "In order to eliminate vicious predatory competition among the mecha clans, especially when it comes to seniors against juniors, the mainframe has set up some protective rules in favour of the disadvantaged party. As soon as it discovers that the skill level between the two parties involved in a challenge diverges by too much, making the match-up extremely unequal, the mainframe will instantly determine that this is malicious predatory competition and declare the challenge invalid. Of course, this mainframe protective measure for the lower grade cadets can only be applied three times 1 . However, every time a challenge is denied, a new challenge can only be issued three months later. If the strength of the battle clan the Leiting Mecha Clan sends out against us exceeds our level by too much, the mainframe's protective regulations will be triggered. With that, we'll still have about a year's time to grow. This is a route we can properly utilise ..."As the team leaders seated here had never encountered a battle between mecha clans before, they did not know all these things. They all quickly spoke up to urge Regiment Commander Wu Jiong to explain how they could get the mainframe to determine this challenge as malicious competition.
Wu Jiong then laid out the rules in detail. It turned out that when upper year cadets challenged lower year cadets, other than the team leader's level being unrestricted, the overall strength of the other members participating in the fight could not exceed the challenged lower grade clan's overall strength by too much. If not, the challenge would be deemed as unfair and be voided. Of course, how much the overall strength needed to exceed to be considered malicious competition was not something Wu Jiong, who had never been in a mecha challenge fight himself, knew for certain either, because it was not stated clearly in the rules. In the end, it would all still depend on the final submitted name lists from both sides.
While everyone was discussing how best to utilise the mainframe's protective rules, Gao Jinyun coughed sharply to draw everyone's attention before saying loudly, "I want to add that there are three tiers for mecha fights. A 12-man fight, a 24-man fight, and a 50-man group battle. Boss Lan, it seems like the tier of the battle is up to the challenger to decide, right?"
Ling Lan nodded in response to Gao Jinyun's question, indicating that he had it right.
Gao Jinyun's brow furrowed as he sighed and said, "This way, we're rather disadvantaged. The initiative is in the hands of the opponent. If we could have chosen the tier, our chances of winning would be higher."
"Oh? Setting aside how the opponent will choose, tell me your thoughts." Ling Lan raised a brow. She had always thought that Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun from her own team were already very rare military strategist combat types — unexpectedly, this team leader who was not from the Central Scout Academy seemed to be no weaker than the two of them in terms of strategizing. This piqued Ling Lan's interest; she now wanted to see how far Gao Jinyun could go.
Ling Lan was not only focused on cultivating her own battle clan, she was also cultivating some allied teams at the same time. Whether in military administration or on the battlefield, having the support of some dependable allies would invariably make her path smoother and more stable. Thus, she viewed Wu Jiong's team with high regard and also employed both carrot and stick with Li Yingjie. Since they were all from the Central Scout Academy, Ling Lan did not wish for Li Yingjie to slow everyone down.
However, if Gao Jinyun also showed promise, Ling Lan would not hesitate to cultivate him as well and be generous with her trust. In contrast to Wu Jiong and the others who may have some nepotism mentality, Ling Lan did not distinguish between main or side branches when it came to people. As long as someone had the skills and had a passable personality, Ling Lan definitely would not discriminate against them due to their birth or background.
The moment Ling Lan said this, everyone was gobsmacked, and Gao Jinyun himself was staring with both shock and joy at Ling Lan. Although Ling Lan's gaze was as placid as ever, the encouragement within her eyes was clear. This moved Gao Jinyun considerably, and his body actually began to tremble uncontrollably.
Several of the other team leaders were even staring at Gao Jinyun with envious eyes. These words from Boss Lan pretty much confirmed that Gao Jinyun had truly entered Boss Lan's scope of attention. As long as Gao Jinyun did not do anything wrong after this, his team would definitely receive focused cultivation from Boss Lan. It could be predicted that Gao Jinyun's team would become one of the strongest teams aside from those battle clans of the regiment commanders in the faction.
Gao Jinyun clenched his fists tightly, telling himself to calm down. The more exciting the situation was, the more he could not afford to make any mistakes. He took a deep breath and let his emotions settle a little before saying, "Regiment Commander, this is what I think. If we get to choose, we must choose the 12-man challenge fight. Even though our overall strength cannot compare to Leiting's, when it comes to elite fighters, we're actually not much weaker than Leiting."
Initially, they had thought that Gao Jinyun would say something mind-blowing, but he had unexpectedly said this. Even if everyone had confidence in themselves, they still felt that there was quite a bit of a gap between their strength and that of the elite battle clans of the Leiting Mecha Clan. One of the team leaders even retorted, "Team leader Gao, as far as I know, Leiting has 15 special-class operators at the very least. Even though we have the confidence to say that we can achieve that same level two to three years later, right now, we're still mostly advanced mecha warriors. There's no way we can compare to Leiting's special-class operators in terms of strength."
Questioned, Gao Jinyun's expression held no trace of panic. Instead, with a face full of determination, he said, "I know, but I also know that the opponent cannot send all of their special-class operators onto the field, or else this challenge fight will not be approved by the mainframe."
Ling Lan's lips curved up slightly once more at these words. As she expected, Gao Jinyun had also noticed this point — he was a seed deserving of cultivation.
Gao Jinyun's resolute words made the eyes of everyone present light up. That's right, if the opponent sent out all their special-class operators, adding on the leading ace operator, this challenge fight would just be completely thrown out. To protect the freshmen, the mainframe would definitely reject this challenge fight. Everyone now understood what Gao Jinyun was saying when he mentioned the elite fighters. If the opponent lowered their requirements and chose advanced mecha warriors to represent them, Lingtian would still be able to put up a fight.
"The most important thing now is how we can hide our strength from the opponent. If Leiting finds out how strong we are and arranges their troops in formations specifically suited to counter us ..." At this point, Gao Jinyun's face turned grim. "The situation will not be optimistic for us. Only if Leiting is uncertain to the depths of our true strength will we have a chance to win."
Gao Jinyun's words made a calm settle down on the entire venue. Some team leaders seemed to have thought of something, a trace of frustration appearing on their faces. It looked like their strength levels must have been scouted out by Leiting quite recently.
Li Yingjie's expression was also extremely unsightly. He recalled a scene in Mecha World where he had been provoked by some people. Back then, he had not been able to hold back his temper and had fought with the opponent several times in the arena. Although he had defeated the opponent multiple times and had obtained quite a lot of victory spoils, thinking back on the incident now, it was truly too fishy. It looked like he must have fallen for Leiting's trap.
Ling Lan swept a swift gaze around the hall, taking stock of everyone's countenance, thus gaining a rough idea of which people had been scouted out. Then, she said, "Looks like, some of you already sense that something is wrong. Still, even if Leiting has discovered your true strength, the impact on this mecha battle will not be too significant, so you all don't have to be too upset."
Even though Ling Lan's tone was cold, her words proved that she was not angry. This let those self-recriminating team leaders, including Li Yingjie, put aside some of their worries. Having been sounded out by the enemy, they were indeed very angry, but they were even more afraid of Boss Lan's anger.
