This time, Tianji and Wuji had 12 member slots each. As per Boss Lan's request, they had brought the strongest 12 special-class operators from their respective mecha clans. The regiment commanders of both mecha clans arrived before Song Yanxu at the same time, one on the right, one on the left, neither willing to give way to the other.
Song Yanxu surreptitiously wiped away the sweat beading up on his forehead. He glanced to the left and then to the right, before asking cautiously, "Which of you shall come first?"
Han Yu coolly glanced sideways at Tianji's regiment commander, Mu Shaoyu, who looked back at him just as coolly. Fiery sparks flew between the two, but neither made a move to answer Song Yanxu's question. For a moment, the hall became extremely still and silent.
The silent confrontation between the two made the cold sweat spring out even faster from Song Yanxu's forehead. He could not help but curse internally, 'Hells, what is this bunch of First Men's Military Academy students planning to do? Are they going to fight? Why don't they show any intention of working together?'
Song Yanxu believed that the First Men's Military Academy definitely would not be able to accomplish any good results under these circumstances. He silently blamed the primary force Qiao Ting for not leading his team well, for not resolving these conflicts in his team in time and allowing this issue to worsen.The situation in the hall was deteriorating, and just as the two seemed about to blow, Xie Yi, who had been watching coldly from the side-lines, suddenly spoke up to say, "How about we let Regiment Commander Mu go first?" He could not bear to see Song Yanxu become dehydrated from sweating too much due to the stress of being stuck between the two regiment commanders. Besides, Song Yanxu had been kind enough to pass on a message for Luo Lang and Han Xuya, so he should give him a hand no matter what.
Mu Shaoyu and Han Yu both turned to look at Xie Yi at the same time, trying to figure out the deeper meaning behind Xie Yi's words. Xie Yi only smiled and shrugged, looking for all the world as if he was just trying to be helpful. Han Yu was greatly frustrated, but he merely sniffed coldly and turned his head away, no longer holding Mu Shaoyu's gaze. This was an indirect acquiescence of Xie Yi's suggestion.
Seeing this, Mu Shaoyu stepped forwards matter-of-factly. Even though Tianji had lost to Lingtian, it was still originally the number two faction after all. How could he allow Wuji, whose ranking was behind Tianji, to be a step before him? No matter what, the dignity of Tianji had to be maintained.
After Tianji had registered, Mu Shaoyu nodded at Xie Yi in thanks for helping him out and also in acknowledgement of the favour. He then side-eyed Han Yu once more before leading his group away from the hall. When Han Yu finally finished registering with the rest of the Wuji group, he glared at Xie Yi and harrumphed coldly, a sign that he would remember this slight. Only then did he haughtily lead the Wuji group away from the hall.
"What kind of people are they ..." said Luo Lang, mouth thin, very displeased by Han Yu's attitude towards Xie Yi.
"It's fine. With Boss around, he won't be able to pull anything," replied Xie Yi with a grin. He did not mind Han Yu's attitude at all, especially for the duration of this Mecha Grand Tournament.
Mind you, even though the public leader of the First Men's Military Academy team was Qiao Ting, in reality, the true leader was Ling Lan. Although Han Yu had qualified to become a representative here at the Mecha Grand Tournament, whether or not he actually got to represent the First Academy in battle still depended on whether Boss allowed it or not. With the decision-making power in the hands of his boss, as long as Han Yu wasn't retarded, he definitely would not cause trouble for Xie Yi during this period of time; therefore, Xie Yi was very calm."I really cannot understand why Boss decided to give some spots to those mecha clans below ..." Luo Lang had been puzzled by this all this while — the honour and glory obviously belonged to their Lingtian.
"Think about it. How many special-class operators have we brought this time?" Xie Yi cackled. "We've pretty much brought the whole pot. I'm really looking forward to that final battle royal involving all the academies. If they knew that their opponents are almost all special-class operators and top-class experts from the various specializations, I wonder what their expressions would be like ..."
Luo Lang imagined that scene and a smile pulled at the corners of his lips. "That should be fun!" This smile instantly caused his entire being to dazzle brightly, and Xie Yi reflexively turned to look elsewhere ... hells, why was this punk so beautiful when he smiled? He was fast unable to hold on.
Right then, another large group of people entered through the doorway again. One of those in the group was extremely familiar to Xie Yi. He instantly let out a sigh of relief and rushed forward to greet the other, calling out, "Senior Zhang, you all have come. That was pretty quick." He was saved! He finally had a proper reason to distance himself from Luo Lang and rescue his heart which was on the brink of an accident.
The one who had just arrived was the previous regiment commander of Dwotong, Zhang Jing-an. He was leading a battle team from his own faction as well as those other participating students from the other minor factions. Although there were not that many people from each faction — with some only having one or two — when taken in total, they had slightly greater numbers than the two teams which had come before them, making up approximately thirty people.
Zhang Jing-an saw Xie Yi coming up to greet him and he cast a reflexive glance around the currently empty hall, then said somewhat pointedly, "They've all left?"
Xie Yi smiled, nodded and said, "Yes, those from Leiting and Wuji have already finished registering and went off to their own accommodations to rest."
Hearing this, Zhang Jing-an turned to say to the regiment commanders of the other factions, "Let's quickly handle our registrations too then. Regiment Commander Ling's group will be coming soon. Let's not hold up the line."
The regiment commanders nodded and quickly led their men over to the counter to register.
Only then did Zhang Jing-an turn to say to Xie Yi, "This time, thanks to Regiment Commander Ling's faith in me, he gave me an additional eight slots, but unfortunately my faction cannot compare to Leiting, Tianji and Wuji ... some of the members are a bit lacklustre ..."
Xie Yi smiled and said, "Senior Zhang is worrying too much. Our Boss Lan has said that there is no need for the strongest, just the most suitable. Senior Zhang's battle clan is one of the teams with the best teamwork in our academy. Our Boss Lan trusts in you all."
Zhang Jing-an smiled at those words and could not help but sigh in admiration. "Rascal. You're really good with words, and strong too. No wonder your regiment commander let you be the one to greet and handle us."
Xie Yi hurriedly said in a humble manner, "That is just Boss Lan being trusting. I'm not that amazing."
Xie Yi's attitude of being immune to all flattery made Zhang Jing-an shake his head, silently admiring of how Ling Lan had been able to excavate so many talented people.
This group of people led by Zhang Jing-an all had pretty good rapport with one another; everyone got along rather well. Song Yanxu sighed softly at this, finally feeling like this was a true team. Those in the last batch of people had almost given him the impression that they were two teams with different affiliations which hated each other.
While Song Yanxu was busy processing all the registrations, his colleagues came back from their meal. When they saw so many people in the hall, they knew that a new military academy must have arrived, so they quickly rushed forwards to help with the registering.
With the reinforcement of 10 more staff, the staff very quickly completed everyone's registration. Right at that moment, 40 more people surged in from the doorway. The one in the lead was also a youth dressed in a white uniform. The moment he stepped into the hall, the temperature instantly dropped, and the initially noisy hall became silent immediately.
Song Yanxu suddenly felt a chill surround his body and could not stop himself from shivering.
Xie Yi and Luo Lang had been leaning on a wall, waiting all this time for the crowd to finish their registration. When they saw the new arrivals, their eyes instantly lit up and they rushed out to stand before the cold-faced youth and called out respectfully, "Boss!"
The cold youth nodded at Luo Lang and Xie Yi, and then turned to look at Zhang Jing-an to ask him calmly, "Senior Zhang, your registrations are done?"
Zhang Jing-an quickly replied, "Yes, Junior Ling, we are all done." Zhang Jing-an's reply instantly shook the people in the hall from their stupor. They hurriedly made way, allowing Ling Lan and the people she brought here to move forwards and register with the staff members.
Ling Lan's arrival made the regiment commanders from the mecha clans of various sizes feel the pressure of a mountain upon them; thus, they all quickly bid farewell to Ling Lan and led their team members in a swift departure from the hall.
Ling Lan saw Zhang Jing-an and friends running out of the hall like demons were chasing after them, and found herself extremely speechless. She turned her head to ask Wu Jiong, "Am I very ugly? Very scary?" Even though this lady 1 always has a cold face, this lady's genes are absolutely top of the line. Both daddy Ling Xiao and mummy Lan Luofeng were super good-looking and elegant ... did those boys have to run away in such fear as if they had just seen a ghost?
Wu Jiong threw a quick glance at Ling Lan and then immediately lowered his eyes. Boss Lan should have pretty good looks, right ...? Wu Jiong actually could not imagine what Ling Lan truly looked like. Only Ling Lan's penetrating gaze remained in his memory, as well as that silent penetrating chill ... seriously, who would dare to study Boss Lan's looks so closely? One look was enough to make a person retreat three feet.
Sensing Boss Lan's cold and penetrating gaze sweep sharply pass his face, Wu Jiong tolerated the chill which seemed to slice him right to the bone. With effort, he gathered his thoughts to reply, "How can that be? Boss Lan is handsome and majestic, unparalleled in your dominance ..."
Why was the cold intent in Boss Lan's eyes growing thicker? He had clearly only said good things ... Wu Jiong could not know that all the things he had said were indeed good things when used to describe boys, but when used to describe girls, those words were actually rather horrible.
Wu Jiong felt that he really might not have a chance to participate in the Mecha Grand Tournament if things went on like this — just as he was about to be killed on the spot, Qi Long spoke up and rescued him. "Boss, your force of presence is too strong. When you stand beside people, they feel really pressured, like a mountain is pressing down on them. Normal people can't take it."
When Ling Lan heard this, the cold air around her dissipated a little. Wu Jiong cleverly started nodding his head in agreement. "Yes, Boss Lan, those able to stand firmly by your side must already have physical skills at our level."
Ling Lan's brow furrowed — just as Instructor Number One in the learning space had said, her force of presence was becoming stronger and stronger, even already at the critical point. Sometimes, there were even signs of her losing control over it. But, even after such a long time, she still had not been able to find the catalyst to merge her force of presence with her own body. This made her wary of displaying her physical skills, afraid that she may lose control and end up doing something she would regret greatly.
Coming to terms with the answer, Ling Lan gave up on pressing Wu Jiong any further. Standing behind her, Li Lanfeng's gaze shimmered — he had not forgotten that smile so lovely that it could fell cities and nations. However, this was his secret — he would not share it with others.
Ling Lan's arrival made Song Yanxu and all the other staff members there rally their spirits; they focused on registering all the people who had come along with Ling Lan. It was only after sending Ling Lan off that they breathed a sigh of relief. Some of them even slumped over in their seats, their limbs limp and powerless. Only then did Song Yanxu realise that he had actually forgotten to speak more with Xie Yi and Luo Lang; he did not even know when they had finished their registration procedures ...
"Ling Lan eh? That person's force of presence is really strong, even stronger than that of their primary force Qiao Ting. It would've been hard to breathe even for someone standing far away to one side." Song Yanxu looked down at Ling Lan's information recorded on the optical supercomputer and muttered to himself, "Only a special-class operator?" His tone was full of doubt.
