A tour guide constantly checked the time on his communicator while looking at the entrance of the spaceport. He was worried. Six people had not arrived yet and the cruise was departing soon. Should he leave the six people behind?
At this moment, six young men ran over from the entrance. They were dressed casually. They looked anxious but the aura they gave out was happy and vibrant.
They rushed to the tour guide and panted heavily as they reached him.
Two of them gained the attention of the tour guide. One of them was wearing a hat that covered half of his face while the other had a mask. The tour guide couldn't see their faces but he felt the cold presence and gentle aura from them individually. They did look good standing next to each other.
Of the remaining four, two of them were muscular. Their stamina seemed to be the best too. They just breathed heavily while the others were panting like crazy. One of the remaining two members looked irritated while the other seemed calm and gentle. Additionally, he grabbed the young man that seemed impatient and asked him to control his emotions.Their relationship must have been good because the young man who was irritated actually calmed down. The tour guide heaved a sigh of relief. These six people didn't look like hard customers. As a tour guide, what he was afraid of the most was meeting customers that were hard to please. They made his work much harder.
One of the muscular young men said after he caught his breath, "Are you the tour guide of Shun Feng Tourism Agency?"
They saw the words 'Shun Feng' on the tour guide's clothes. The tour guide nodded. "Yes. You all must be from He Ping Academy. Everyone is waiting for you all."
"Yes. We are sorry for being late." The muscular man looked like a rough person but he had a good attitude and apologized sincerely. The tour guide's impression of them got better instantly.
"No problem. Hurry up and register yourselves." The tour guide knew that time was tight so he didn't speak anymore nonsense.
When the six young men stepped on the cruise ship, they looked at each other and smiled. The tour guide gave them a standard six-men room. He asked them to tidy up and head down for dinner.
"Oh right, after dinner, there will be a dance party. You can interact with other people in the tour group. After all, you all will be staying together for one month. A good relationship will allow you to have a more interesting trip," The tour guide reminded all of them before he left.Their tour group would pass through 18 countries in the galaxy. The countries they chose were either neutral parties or countries within the Federation. However, they would need to pass through three enemy countries along the journey. These countries had signed a treaty which stated that they would not attack a passenger ship as long as the people on the ship didn't provoke them.
The muscular young man, who had been talking to the tour guide all these while, replied, "Okay. Tour guide Zhou, we will come down later."
The tour guide had introduced himself just now. His name was Zhou Guangli.
Zhou Guangli left. He needed to check on his other tour group members. He was the tour guide as well as the person-in-charge of the tour group. He was responsible for everything.
The muscular man watched the tour guide leave before going back into the room.
The six-men room was in the same style as a military bunk. This cruise ship was modified from a battleshipl. There were three bunk beds. Everyone chose their bed and placed their bags down.
Ling Lan took off her hat, revealing her young face. She had retracted her aura. With her handsome face and pink lips, she looked like a beautiful young man now.
Qi Long held onto the bed frame and laughed silently. The rest of the people tried their best to hold in their laughter. They were afraid that their boss would kill them.
Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and glared at Qi Long coldly. "Is it very funny?"
Qi Long froze. His laughter subsided. He shook his head furiously.
Sob… he laughed too hard just now. He forgot how vicious his boss could be. Although he was safe for this month, once they went back to the mecha clan… Qi Long could imagine what his life would be like.
They didn't come late on purpose. They were late because they laughed at Ling Lan after she changed into casual clothing and restrained her dominating aura. Of course, Ling Lan beat them up badly afterwards. The beating took some time so they were in a rush. If they were late by another five minutes, they might have missed the cruise.
"Actually, you look more like a tourist like this," Li Lanfeng smiled as he consoled Ling Lan.
Ling Lan felt troubled. She knew that the moment she restrained her aura, she would not look like a boss anymore. Li Lanfeng's words was like sprinkling salt on her wound. She raised her eyebrows and said threateningly, "What? Do I look gullible like this?"
Li Lanfeng controlled his urge to laugh. He shook his head nonchalantly and said, "No. However, your appearance now will let people put down their guard against you. This is important for our mission. Captain, you are good at disguising yourself."
Li Lanfeng shamelessly curried favor with Ling Lan and appeased her anger.
Everyone gave Li Lanfeng looks of approval. They were relieved that they managed to escape another beating this time.
"Shall we contact other captains?" Lin Zhong-qing asked.
"No." Ling Lan rejected the suggestion. "We don't know if there are spies on this cruise. If we act rashly, we might expose ourselves."
Everyone nodded. Ling Lan continued, "Since we are tourists, we must act like one. Use the fake identity that Planet Hantang gave us and leave a message on He Ping Academy's forum. We will post a message stating that we manage to board the cruise at the last moment."
"You said what I wanted to say." Li Lanfeng supported Ling Lan. "As long as nothing happens to the princess, we will just continue to act like a tourist."
The other four people were smart people too. They understood what Li Lanfeng meant and nodded.
Very soon, Lin Zhong-qing used his fake identity to post a message on He Ping Academy's forum. He even took a few photos of the cruise and inserted a smiley face emoticon. He wrote: I am finally able to tour the South galaxy. Take off, Feiyang Ship!
In the operations center of Planet Hantang's headquarters, the commander-in-chief paced around the room with a worried expression.
In order to not get exposed, four teams had left the headquarters separately within the last few days. No one knew where they went. The headquarters didn't dare to trace them as they were afraid that the spies within their headquarters would notice them.
Finally, it was time for the teams to report back. Three teams managed to use the designated signal and contact the two teams which were protecting the princess. Only Lingtian Battle Team had not got back to them.
The commander stopped walking and asked the adjutant beside him, "Has the Feiyang Ship left the harbor?"
"It left Hantang three minutes ago," The adjutant looked at the communicator and replied.
"Is there still no news from the Lingtian Battle Team?" The commander was a little angry. If the princess couldn't reach Dapa Laya because of the Lingtian Battle Team, he would definitely complain about them to the military court.
The adjutant gave a depressed expression. "No news yet."Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Footsteps sounded. The commander looked up. His adviser appeared at the door.
"Commander, there is news from Lingtian," The adviser said with disbelief.
The commander was elated. "The signal came?"
The adviser shook his head furiously, "There is no signals from them."
The commander was furious. "Why did you say there was news from them then? Did they miss the boarding time of the ship and came back?" The commander could only think of this possibility. He was indignant.
"No… I don't know how to explain it to you. Take a look at this image." The adviser showed the image on his communicator to the commander.
It was the main page of He Ping Academy's forum. An anonymous person posted a message showing the insides of a cruise. The student's ID appeared beside the message.
"Why are you showing me this? What is so strange about people from the He Ping Academy being on a cruise?" The commander took a while before understanding the situation. "Check all the details of the passengers on the cruise."
"I have check them already. The only people from He Ping Academy who are on the cruise are the six from Lingtian Battle Team," the adviser replied firmly. He had suspected that this was a message from the Lingtian Battle Team so he had already checked the information. There was no mistake.
The commander calmed down. "Those brats are unruly. Why didn't they just use the signal to contact the other battle teams? Why do they have to use this method? They don't have any team spirit at all."
"Looking at their information, besides two people who can take on low-level missions, the rest are all recruits. They shouldn't be able to take on the mission in the first place. Commander, why did the Lingtian Battle Team send out these recruits for a four-stars mission? Most old battle teams should know that the stars of the battle team affects the difficulty of the missions assigned to them. The harder the mission, the more stars the mission would have. No battle team would send a recruit for a four-stars mission." The adviser had a good relationship with the commander so he spoke his mind out blatantly.
The commander was puzzled too. He suddenly thought of something. He asked hurriedly, "How old are the six people from Lingtian?"
The adviser replied with a puzzled expression, "The recruits are 21 years old while the other two are 24 years old. This is their 4th year in the military."
The commander felt his heart dropped. "What about their captain, Ling Lan?" Since his status was written as the captain, he must be the real captain of Lingtian. What if…
The adviser realized something too. He shouted, "He is a recruit!"
The commander immediately searched for the data about the Lingtian Battle Team. He was a Major General so he had the authority to access this information. He thought about the age of the captain of Lingtian Battle Team and got a hold of the situation.
"How can I miss such an important detail?" The commander's expression changed. He immediately contacted the headquarters of the 23rd Division and reported everything to them.
A recruit that managed to form a battle team in his first year must be a prodigy which the division wanted to nurture. The commander knew that this mission was dangerous. If this prodigy died in this mission, he would be in trouble. The commander was angry at himself. If he realized this sooner, he would not have sent them on this mission.
Very soon, the 23rd Division replied him with two simple words: No problem.
The commander pondered for a moment. He was still worried so he contacted someone after much hesitation. After he hung up the call, he heaved a sigh of relief. "It's fine. We don't have to worry about the recruits from the Lingtian Battle Team anymore. They can do what they like."
He remembered what his old friend told him through the call and felt troubled. He turned and asked his adviser, "Ji Qing, am I stupid?"
Ji Qing looked up in surprise. "What happened?"
The commander said in a sad tone, "He Xuyang said that I'm stupid. He said that I don't know what is the best disguise. He said that if there is a problem in this mission, it would be because of our secret signal…"
His intellect couldn't be compared with He Xuyang. He was almost as smart as the optical supercomputer. However, he was not stupid either. If not, how was he able to become the commander-in-chief for the defensive troops on Planet Hantang? Hmph, He Xuyang must be jealous of him.
The commander then remembered that He Xuyang was a Major General too and was the Chief of Staff for General Ling Xiao. His sense of superiority instantly disappeared. Not only was He Xuyang smarter than him, he was luckier too. Sob, he wanted to be under General Ling Xiao too.
Ji Qing didn't understand what the commander was thinking. He thought about the question seriously. "Frankly, the signal that we use will leave traces behind once it is used. I just hope that the captains will not use them too frequently. If there are ace hackers on the cruise, it will not be safe."
The commander said angrily, "Why didn't you remind me?"
Ji Qing felt wronged. "By the time I came back, the four teams were gone and you all have decided on the plan already. I didn't have the opportunity to remind you." He shouldn't have went on leave.
The commander was stunned. His face turned red with anger and embarrassment. He didn't want to admit that he was wrong. "Do you think that ace hackers are found everywhere? I don't believe that our enemies are willing to send out their ace hackers…"
Ji Qing shrugged. The commander continued in a helpless tone, "I hope that the five battle teams will be smart enough to not use the signal all the time…" Fine, as a commander, he should stop this self-deception. When the five captains gathered to discuss about the plan, there was already a flaw in the plan. However, no one saw it…
No, the captain of the Lingtian Battle Team noticed it. He just didn't say anything because he didn't have the authority to make any decision and might even anger some people in the process.
Thinking about it, the team that was disguising themselves the best was the Lingtian Battle Team. The commander was not angry anymore. He felt lucky to have the Lingtian Battle Team in this mission. They might be the critical factor in ensuring the safety of the princess.
It was meal time. The people from Lingtian went to the restaurant.
There were three dining hall on the Feiyang Ship. Two were small and one was a big dining hall. Their meal was held in the bigger dining hall.
