The war on Planet Haijiao touched the hearts of all the citizens of the Federation. At the same time, it caused a huge commotion in other nations. The other countries reprimanded the Federation for breaking the Human United Agreement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federation was not just there for show. Since the inception of the country, the Federation had never lost in a verbal debate. This time, it was the same. They refute the claims by the other nations with the loophole in the Human United Agreement. Additionally, they told the accusing nations that they had clear evidence to prove that Hailiya broke the Human United Agreement first. If that wasn't the case, the God-class mecha wouldn't have appeared on the battlefield. Jumping levels in mecha piloting could cause the operator to die. No one would do it if they had a choice.
The mecha operators of the Federation were the treasures of the Federation. They wouldn't want any of them to be sacrificed. If Hailiya didn't break the rules. the mecha operator from the Federation wouldn't have to step out and use his life to protect the base as well as his comrades.
The diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke so sincerely, he even cried when he talked about the pain the mecha operator had to go through. This Oscar-winning performance truly surprised the representatives from other nations. Thus, all the charges against the Federation were taken back.
All in all, the Federation proclaimed that it was all Hailiya's fault. Hailiya had to be punished.The Federation was known for never admitting it's mistakes. Even if it was in the wrong, they were forced to do it.
At the meeting, the verbal battle was fierce. No one wanted to take a step back. If they didn't have to maintain their bearings as a diplomat, these people might have started fighting. Even though they didn't do that, they still slammed tables and smashed things. If they accidentally hit a diplomat of Hailiya with the object in their hands… Sorry! I didn't do it on purpose.
'What? You're unhappy? Why don't you throw one at me too?'
The accuracy of the diplomats from the Federation was much higher than the diplomats of other countries. This was all thanks to the education of the Federation. They had spent ten years in the military academy so their combat skills were much better than the other diplomats even though their position didn't need them to fight.
On Planet Haijiao, Qi Yaoyang finished his preparations and led the reinforcements to start their plan of retaliation.
The activation of the satellites allowed Little Four to sneak into all the bases of Hailiya. When the Federation started their attack, he interfered with the mainframes, causing them to slow down for a second when passing out commands.
This seemed like a short time but this one second was enough for the protective shield to collapse when their enemies were unable to replenish the loss of energy on time.Since the delay in the mainframe was too short, the people from the Hailiya army didn't notice anything amiss. They just thought that the attack from the Federation was too powerful so it destroyed their protective shield in an instant.
As more and more bases got destroyed by the Federation, the command center of Hailiya predicted that it might be due to some secret weapon brought over by Qi Yaoyang. (The Federation had sent a god-class mecha over so it was possible that they brought another secret weapon too.) The Hailiya army couldn't resist against the Federation's forceful invasion, so they retreated. They wanted to retreat to the huge bases at the back and have a final battle with the Federation there.
In Base 013, besides those mecha clans that had to guard the base, all the soldiers followed Qi Yaoyang out to fight, including 250 Ace Mecha Clan.
Almost everyone in 250 Ace Mecha Clan went out this time. Besides Li Lanfeng who was left behind to guard the camp, everyone else was sent out by Ling Lan, including the logisticians. This was a good time to gain military merits. Ling Lan didn't want 250 Ace Mecha Clan to lose this chance.
As for team 08, Qi Long would take over as the temporary leader. His team 03 was almost annihilated and there was no time to reform it. Hence, he was the perfect person to take over Li Lanfeng's position.
Li Lanfeng settled everything at the base and came to Ling Lan's treatment room.
Because of her father's spiritual power, Ling Lan was able to stay awake for a longer period of time. However, Ling Lan, Li Lanfeng, and Li Shiyu felt that they must still let the public think that Ling Lan's injuries were getting worse. If not, the consequences would be disastrous. Even General Ling Xiao would be unable to protect them. Hence, they told everyone that Ling Lan was still sleeping in the healing pod with no signs of getting better.
Before Li Shiyu left the base, he successfully created the second generation of Nuwa agent. He experimented with the Ling family's agent and used his findings to reformulate a new formula for the Nuwa agent. He gave most of it for Ling Lan to drink and injected a portion of it into the recovery agent to heal Ling Lan's badly injured body.
'Isn't the Nuwa agent finished? Why are there still some left?' This was a reward for Ling Lan's kindness. Before all this, she diluted one Nuwa agent and gave it to the ten team leaders so that they could use it in times of emergency. Besides Han Jijyun who used some of it to help the survivors, the other team leaders still had theirs. When they heard how bad their regiment commander's condition was, they gave Li Shiyu their agents, making Li Shiyu feel elated.
He had the Ling family's agent with him too so he decided to use both of them to create a better agent. After a series of coincidence, he invented the second generation Nuwa agent. Its effects were much stronger than the first generation Nuwa agent.
After settling everything, Li Shiyu left unwillingly with 250 Ace Mecha Clan. He brought the equally unwilling Luo Chao and Han Xuya with him too.
In the military, if a female officer wanted to rise in position, they needed to acquire even more outstanding merits than a male soldier. The other way was to have someone powerful helping them.
Ling Lan didn't want Luo Chao and Han Xuya to live under someone's protection in their lifetime. She felt that these two ladies were not weaker than any men, so she didn't want them to miss this chance because they wanted to take care of her.
Li Lanfeng came to the treatment room. He used his domain to inspect the treatment room. When he noticed that everything was proper, he knocked on Ling Lan's healing pod.
This was their secret code. Ling Lan would pretend to be unconscious until he came.
Of course, Ling Lan didn't need the secret code. She didn't tell Li Lanfeng but when she was really unconscious, she was still aware of everything that was happening in the base, including the situation of the war. Plus, with Little Four guarding her, no one had the chance to spy her.
Hence, the moment Li Lanfeng entered the room, Little Four got excited and shouted to remind Ling Lan that Li Lanfeng was looking for her.
At first, Little Four had some qualms against Li Lanfeng. But, now, he treated Li Lanfeng like his life savior. His impression of him rose exponentially.
Even Ling Lan felt happy when she saw Li Lanfeng. Her admiration for Li Lanfeng rose too.
Why were they elated when they see Li Lanfeng? Well, we have to go back to the start.
After Ling Lan took in her father's spiritual power, she was able to keep herself awake for a longer period of time. She started getting bored in the healing pod. At this moment, her instructors, who had been waiting for this chance, caught her.
This time, there were three instructors teaching her. Ling Lan felt confused by that even till today. Those three instructors looked exactly the same. They introduced themselves as triplets and were known as Number Six, Number Seven, and Number Eight.
The three instructors thought her different things. One of them taught her about business, the other taught her about politics, and the last one taught her about military affairs.
First, let's talk about Number Six. The moment he saw Ling Lan, he started scolding her and reprimanding her on some of the decisions she had made for Base 013. He was dissatisfied with these decisions. For instance, when she ordered her team to retreat after snatching the food and water supplies. She could have saved everyone if she decided to hide at the base and wait for a chance to go back after that. However, she wanted everyone to stay together. They were able to return to the base because of luck, really.
Plus, about her controlling the god-class mecha, Number Six felt that this was something only an idiot would do. A professional commanding officer would know when to give up on certain things. Sacrifices couldn't be avoided but she still mustn't put herself at risk before the crisis really happened. This was a taboo.
Ling Lan was stunned by Number Six's reprimanding. Before she could understand everything Number Six taught her, Number Seven grabbed her and told her how to build a perfect base. His political plans and schemes surprised Ling Lan. She realized that everything she did before was nothing compared to what Number Seven was teaching. But, before she could digest everything, the impatient Number Eight snatched her away. Then, he started analyzing the various investments Little Four had been making over the past few years.
Every day, Ling Lan would wake up in a daze. She would constantly receive dumps of information from her instructors before going to sleep confused. Ling Lan realized that all the hard pieces of training she had in the past seemed so easy now. The lessons from these three instructors were the scariest of them all.
However, she wasn't the only one suffering. Little Four suffered with her too. While she was being taught by Number Eight, she grabbed Little Four and made him learn with her. These things were all done by Little Four. Why should she suffer when the main culprit ran around freely outside?
Since Little Four did all the investments, Number Eight didn't reject his appearance. He had many opinions against all the investments he did so when Little Four appeared, he took this opportunity and reprimanded him too.
Every time Number Eight's lesson ended, the two students hugged their heads between their knees. They felt the world spinning around them. None of them had any talent in business so learning this was like torture to them.
When Li Lanfeng walked in, they were currently attending the most dreaded business lesson from Number Eight. Hence, the moment Little Four saw Li Lanfeng, he got excited. His life savior is here! He shouted happily, "Boss, Little Li is here."
Little Li was Little Four's nickname for Li Lanfeng now. This nickname came from the stupid Little White who was currently on Li Lanfeng's shoulder. While Little White was complaining about Li Lanfeng's abuse to Ling Lan, it called Li Lanfeng Little Li. Little Four shared Ling Lan's mindscape so he knew about this nickname too. He felt that this nickname really suited Li Lanfeng so he decided to use it too. The poor Li Lanfeng didn't know that these two cute and stupid figures had given him a not-so-good nickname.
"Ah, Number Eight, Li Lanfeng must be looking for me because he has something important to tell me. Shall we end the lesson now?" Ling Lan's eyes lit up as she looked at Number Eight with anticipation. She looked totally different from the lifeless character just now.
Number Eight felt his teeth hurting. However, he saw Ling Lan's excited face and couldn't bear to reject her. He said helplessly, "Fine, the lesson will end today. We'll continue tomorrow."
"Thank you, Number Eight." The moment Ling Lan finished speaking, she instantly disappeared from Number Eight's space. She didn't forget to bring Little Four, who was suffering along with her, in her escape.
They disappeared before Number Eight could say anything.
"Isn't there anyone for me to pass all my knowledge to?" Number Eight was dejected.
"Don't worry. Ling Lan is a smart person. Even if she doesn't have the talent in this area, she'll be able to get the hang of it after you teach her a few times." A voice sounded in the air.
Two people that looked exactly like Number Eight appeared beside him. When the three people stood together, it was hard to differentiate them. The only difference between the three of them was their clothes. Number Six was wearing the red military uniform of Mandora while Number Seven was wearing a purple shirt. Number Eight, on the other hand, was wearing a white gown.
"Yes. Number Eight, we lack everything but time," Number Seven told him.
"That's the only way." Number Eight gathered his spirit. Fortunately, he had Prince Four as his student too. He was not a talented person but when compared with Ling Lan, he was much better.
"Since Ling Lan had the thought of fighting for more power, she would accept what we taught her." Number Six knew that talent was just a small factor. Ling Lan learned slowly because she didn't like all this knowledge. Her mind resisted them instinctively.
"It looks like the external pressure on Ling Lan is still not enough." Number Seven knew this too. Although Ling Lan met many crises during this battle and seemed to have experienced a few life-or-death situations, she was still very confident in herself. She believed in her father and believed that the Federation would send reinforcements. She believed that they were able to go back alive.
She had never been abandoned entirely. She didn't know what it felt like to be forsaken by all her friends and families. If she never experienced that moment, she wouldn't understand that a real powerful person was someone who controlled her own fate. If not, no matter how strong the person was, he was just a chess piece in the eyes of everyone else.
Ling Lan escaped successfully and opened her eyes. She saw that Li Lanfeng had opened her healing pod already and was looking at her intently.
"What's the matter?" Ling Lan raised one of her eyebrows. She was not going to tell him that she was waiting for him to save her.
Li Lanfeng looked at Ling Lan. He hesitated for a moment before finally gritting his teeth and asking.
"Why must there be such a rule in the Ling family?"
