At this time, Little Four who had left Ling Lan to go wipe out the T-virus returned, suddenly appearing within Ling Lan"s minds.p.a.ce.

Ling Lan saw Little Four"s reappearance and knew that he must have finished clearing out the T-virus. Still, the potential harm the T-virus could inflict on the Federation"s virtual world was too great, so Ling Lan could not help but ask, "Have you cleared out that T-virus, that Doomsday Flower?"

Little Four grinned widely, nodded and said, "Yup yup, all done."

"You"re sure that the T-virus won"t appear again in the virtual world?" Ling Lan asked again, still worried.

"Yup yup, as long as Boss does not want to see it, the T-virus will not appear here." Little Four blinked his clear black eyes guilelessly and replied with a sure expression.

Only then did Ling Lan relax. She did not notice when Little Four bowed his head to hide a smile.

Of course Little Four would smile sneakily — he had only said that the T-virus would not appear again if Ling Lan did not want to see it. If Ling Lan wanted to see it again one day, the T-virus could appear any time she wanted it to ...

That"s right. He, Little Four, had transferred that T-virus, a.k.a. the Doomsday Flower, into the learning s.p.a.ce for focused cultivation. Little Four felt that there was no such thing as good or bad when it came to viruses. It all depended on who the user was. Besides, it wasn"t easy for him to see something related to the Mandora star system — Little Four could not bear to erase it just like that ...

Mind you, the instructors in the learning s.p.a.ce were unwilling to talk to him much due to his young age, and Ling Lan had so much to do in her daily life that she did not talk to him very often either. Meanwhile, in the virtual world, other than that little optical supercomputer on that s.p.a.ceship, he still had not encountered another self-aware intelligence ent.i.ty in this entire virtual world ... yes, Little Four was feeling lonely.

Little Four left Ling Lan"s minds.p.a.ce excitedly to come to a sealed s.p.a.ce within the learning s.p.a.ce in the next second. There, a baby was sleeping deeply suspended in the air. The baby"s body was connected to countless white and black lines whose ends disappeared into the endless darkness of this s.p.a.ce. There was no visible end point.

Little Four"s figure flashed once more and he was right by the baby"s side in the air. He curiously reached out a finger to touch the other"s soft cheek. Disturbed, the little baby"s pretty brow scrunched up, and its bright red, little lips pouted angrily. It looked like he hated having his sleep disturbed by others.

"Little fellow, sleeping like a dead pig. Being able to continue living, you need to thank your Elder Brother Little Four, you know? Yup, I was the one who saved you, so I should be the one to name you. What should I call you? Little Doom? Little World? 1 Nope, Little World sounds too much like my name Little Four 2 . That name was given to me by Boss. It"s my exclusive t.i.tle!" said Little Four, riled up. His eyes spun and then with a trace of cheekiness he said, "I"ve decided. I"ll call you Little Blossom 3 ... Little Blossom, you need to grow up quickly and wake up. Stick around with me later on and I guarantee you"ll be treated well. Remember that I"m your big brother in the future. You must call me Big Bro Little Four later on!" announced Little Four gleefully.

The sleeping baby did not know then that even before he had woken up, he had already been given an extremely lame name by the naughty Little Four. Only when he grew up did he learn how horrible this name was and lodged a firm protest with Boss Lan. Only then did he manage to retrieve his dignity and gain a new name.

Little Four looked at the sleeping baby, his mood buoyant. He nodded happily, knowing that he would have a friend in the future ...

Little Four was lost in the wonderful daydreams of his beautiful future when he suddenly raised his head and frowned. At that instant, he had sensed a spectre that should have been at the trap rapidly approaching his boss"s location.

Little Four"s figure flickered and he instantly returned to Ling Lan"s minds.p.a.ce to immediately report his findings to Ling Lan.

After finding out, without even having to think about it, Ling Lan sent Little Four out to kill that person. After killing more than a dozen people, Li Lanfeng was drained in both mental energy and spectre power. Ling Lan did not want to tire him out any further and risk unnecessary complications.

Witt, who was hurrying over, suddenly felt a chill run through his body. And then, an overwhelming cascade of familiar yet horrifying spectre power rolled over him. Despite his fast reflexes, allowing him to speedily whip out his own spectre power to defend himself, the power gap between the two was just too wide. His defence only made that wave of energy pause for a brief moment, and then his consciousness was crushed beneath it.

He seemed to feel his soul splitting apart, and then his vision blacked out and he was no longer aware of anything. He had no chance to see his own body slowly becoming white dots to disappear from this virtual world, just like Hollow Ground.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, the spectre Reiter who was calmly approaching his target, the investigation team, suddenly found his own spectre power vibrating violently. This was a warning sign. He stopped abruptly and after using spectre power to protect himself, he began to test his surroundings. He found nothing, however. Puzzled, he shook his head and could only continue to move forwards, but his demeanour was obviously much more cautious than before.

When Little Four reported back to Ling Lan that he had already handled that spectre, Ling Lan"s team had already arrived at the exit.

Ling Lan swept a glance over all her team members and then took out that confession from her bag, intending to pa.s.s it to Li Lanfeng. "Leopard, safeguard this data. Remember, you absolutely cannot die this whole trip back. You must live to hand this over to the city lord of Grandsweep City, or else the mission will fail."

Li Lanfeng was taken aback by these words. He did not expect Ling Lan to choose him to shoulder this great responsibility. From the very start of the planning of this strategy, it was clear how important this role was. Li Lanfeng had always thought that this role was certain to be for Qi Long or Luo Lang, because they were the second and third strongest respectively in the team. At the same time, they were also childhood companions of the rabbit, so in terms of trustworthiness, they should be at the top of the list.

But now, this task had been entrusted to him. Li Lanfeng could feel the full extent of the rabbit"s trust in him. This moved him greatly. He secretly took a deep breath and then very calmly reached out a hand to accept the data file. Li Lanfeng was now certain that his importance was definitely not much lesser than that of Qi Long, Luo Lang, and the others in the rabbit"s heart. He must live up to the rabbit"s feelings for him.

Frankly, Li Lanfeng was overthinking things. Ling Lan had chosen Li Lanfeng because she felt that he was a crafty person with a scheming mind and a bellyful of murky water. Furthermore, his mecha control skills were as good as Qi Long"s. No matter how you looked at it, he was from the stock of scourges whose misdeeds lasted for thousands of years 4 . She believed that even when it was "game over" for the rest of the team, Li Lanfeng would still be able to live on with vim and vigour 5 . However, this still indirectly displayed Ling Lan"s great faith in the leopard — Li Lanfeng had not been moved for nothing.

Ling Lan then turned to look at Qi Long and instructed seriously, "Qi Long, after this, you lead the team members to provide full protection to the leopard. Even if you all die in battle, you cannot let the leopard die."

Qi Long"s expression turned solemn. "Yes, Boss!" Qi Long and the others knew very well that the true challenge would only start after this.

"After that, we will move as planned. We will split our forces in two." As Ling Lan signalled with her gaze for her team to move out, she also instructed Little Four within the minds.p.a.ce, "Carry out the original plan."

Receiving his orders, Little Four immediately rubbed his palms together and got to work. Killing spectres had only been a temporary job — now, it was finally time for him, Little Four, to really showcase his skills.

********

In one of the dormitories of the makeshift camp accommodating the survivors of the Jinglong mainship, a soldier was constantly looking at the communicator in his hands. Suddenly, an expression of pleasant surprise appeared on his face and he quickly lifted his head to meet the nervous expression of the companions by his side and said, "There"s news! The commanding officer has succeeded on their end and has asked us to start moving to take control of the military ship and wait for their return."

At these words, a member of the group who looked to be the leader immediately nodded his head and gave the order. "Good, then let"s start acting according to the original plan."

These people immediately sorted out their weapons and quietly left the camp grounds, sneaking their way towards the s.p.a.ceport of the military vessel. Their objective had been determined early on — the patrol ship which had brought them here in the first place. According to their plan, when the commanding officers came back, they would also sneak into this military vessel, and before anyone in the Swift Dragon base discovered them, they would start the ship and leave this place.

Ling Lan, who had long sussed out their plan, decided to take advantage of the situation and let her team sneak onto the ship in question as well. This way, with these people from the military as their shields, no one would discover their movements.

Qi Long and the others soon left the canteen — they had to rely on themselves after this. Ling Lan watched them leave and sighed softly. A data file suddenly appeared in her hands — it was that confession she had given Li Lanfeng.

The almighty Little Four had already made a perfect copy of the doc.u.ment. Ling Lan would not put all her eggs in one basket — she had entrusted Li Lanfeng with a copy but had also kept a copy for herself. As long as one of them stayed alive, this mission could be completed. This way of doing things was actually against the rules, but with Little Four making adjustments behind the scenes, everything became reasonable and acceptable.

Ling Lan once again kept the doc.u.ment away. She had divided their forces for two reasons. One, she wanted to completely eliminate the hidden threat. She could not let any of the people from the Caesar Empire who had infiltrated the base go, because she could not let any hidden dangers that could threaten her team members in any way to remain. Two, she needed to rescue those Federation investigation team soldiers who were entrenched in trouble. She still needed to use them as shields to deflect attention from her team.

Little Four simulated the commanding officer"s communication signal, and after relaying news to those people holding the fort back in the camp, he left Ling Lan to go kill off those hackers hiding in the command centre.

In the meantime, with Little Four providing cover, Ling Lan made her way to the warehouse at top speed. Although there was still one spectre there, having figured out how to control her spiritual power, Ling Lan had the ability to protect herself. Therefore, she was not afraid, and this was also why Little Four felt rea.s.sured enough to leave his boss.

In a hidden room of the command centre, 8 black-robed hackers were staring at the time on the screen before them with ashen faces. The initial estimated time for the successful activation of the T-virus had already exceeded 20 minutes — they had already made the preparations to celebrate their triumph, but reality had intruded to slap them in the face. The virtual world of the Federation was still operating normally with no sign at all of anything wrong.