Nie Feng-ming nodded and said, "The boss" promise is my promise. Three years later, I"ll be waiting for you in the 23rd Division." Nie Feng-ming took a stare at Ling Lan again and continued, "However, I still have to thank you."

Ling Lan was stunned. Why would Nie Feng-ming thank her after she ruthlessly made him lose one year"s worth of time?

"If it wasn"t for you, Boss Huo wouldn"t have suddenly changed his plans to apply for the 23rd Division; our battle team would have then split off into many different pieces. But now, our entire battle team has gotten into the 23rd Division. We can now continue to fight amongst our brothers-in-arms. I am also grateful for the ruthlessness you showed back then. So thank you!" Nie Feng-ming said with a serious tone. After saying that, he walked past Ling Lan without turning around and boarded the warship of the 23rd Division.

Nie Feng-ming"s words made Ling Lan"s heart shake uncontrollably. In reality, what had happened to Nie Feng-ming last year had made Ling Lan feel disdain; she had felt that this person was a terrible person. But now it looked like she was the one who was short-sighted.

No one person was perfect. Everyone had their own interests and tendencies. Even if they were ruthless towards those whom they hated, they wouldn"t admit their mistakes, and they would think it was alright no matter how much they gave to those they loved… In that case, with what qualifications could she judge him as right or wrong?

She took a deep breath, looked up towards the sky above the s.p.a.ceport and looked beyond the stars. Her heart felt clear, as if a layer of fog that had been clouding her had vanished. She showed a hint of a smile, raised her right hand and placed it on her chest softly to feel the beating of her strong heart.

"There was never a so-called right or wrong in being a human or doing something. It was always about whether it"s worth it or not! Thus, in the future, I will follow my heart. I"ll do what my heart wants to do."

"What kind of Dao is this?" Instructor Number One"s cold voice suddenly rang inside her mind.

"It"s my natural Dao and also the Dominance Dao that I created." Ling Lan"s eyes gleamed without the confusion she once had about creating a Dao.

"What is it based on?"

"The heart. Whether it be the Sage Dao, Sovereign Dao, Killing Dao or Ghoul Dao… every type of Dao wouldn"t be able to compare to the heart, the giving of the heart," Ling Lan said without hesitation. "There is no need to force, to hide, to endure, to agonize and to be reluctant. I think, so I do. It"s as simple as that."

As Ling Lan"s thoughts moved, the sound of a lock opening was heard—the barrier that had been confining her body and mind had broken. The aura that was originally suppressed by Ling Xiao was now finally flowing through Ling Lan"s body and merging with it…

Qi Long and the others who were standing beside Ling Lan only felt that there was an aura where Ling Lan stood, and then they couldn"t feel her presence anymore. This odd scene made them very nervous. They all scattered and surrounded Ling Lan to protect her.

The odd movements of Qi Long and the others also surprised the other members of the Lingtian Mecha Clan. Seeing this scene, they all formed an endless wall, surrounding Ling Lan in one layer after another.

On the 23rd Division"s warship, the commanding officer saw this on his surveillance camera and his eyes narrowed. "Is it an advancement in physical skills? Even I can"t actually tell what his real level is… and he"s also well respected in the military academy to have hundreds of people move to protect him. How very interesting. I have to remember this person and hope that the next time I come here, he"ll be among those that I welcome."

After sending off the fifth-year seniors, Ling Lan and the other cadets returned to their tight study schedule. During this time, Ling Lan had increased the demonic training regimen for Qi Long and the others. Luo Lang came behind Qi Long and was the second person to successfully advance to special-cla.s.s operator.

Not only that, Lingtian Mecha Clan"s other battle teams had good news; Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie had almost advanced to special-cla.s.s operator at the same time. These two had seen that every member of Ling Lan"s team was training crazily. This had moved them, and thus they took their own battle teams and followed the training regimen behind Ling Lan"s team. No matter how much Ling Lan had shooed them away, they still wouldn"t leave.

Wu Jiong was a smart person. There definitely had to be something mysterious about the training regimen since the members in Ling Lan"s team were all quickly advancing to special-cla.s.s level. If he followed and trained with them, it would definitely be good for him.

Although Li Yingjie wasn"t as smart as Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie still knew that following him was definitely the right choice. Since Wu Jiong gave up his dignity to follow Ling Lan"s team and train with them, he would naturally follow suit as well.

It had to be said that their decision in this matter was very correct. After giving a beating to all her members, Ling Lan saw their eyes yearning for the training. (Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie were yelping in horror. It wasn"t yearning in their eyes, it was fear and terror, okay?) So she graciously allowed them go to the center of the arena and beat them ruthlessly. This made them almost not have enough energy to crawl out of the training room.

After going through thick and thin, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie"s friendship became stronger. These two people, who originally didn"t like each other, had in the end held onto each other as they left the training room.

After being beaten like this for two months, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie advanced to special-cla.s.s operator one after the other. The time they took to achieve this was one year less than their original estimate of three years. After tasting the sweetness of the beatings, the two of them were no longer willing to leave, and thus the three battle teams fought each other and held battle royales between the battle teams as well. Since Ling Lan"s battle team was stronger, Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie"s battle teams would always cooperate to go against Ling Lan"s battle team. Although the members of Ling Lan"s team were all stronger, because Ling Lan didn"t fight with them, they would lose more times since they had less than half the number of people compared to the other two battle teams. Of course, after losing, what awaited them was a more terrifying h.e.l.lish training. This also made the members of Ling Lan"s battle team perform crazily in every fight. However, this also made Wu Jiong and Li Yingjie"s battle teams counter-attack in a crazed manner as well…

These wild confrontations that were similar to real battles caused the capabilities of all the members of the three battle teams increase exponentially… As autumn pa.s.sed and spring began, the second half of the school year for the second-years pa.s.sed by silently in training and studying…

"Wow, this the First Men"s Military Academy? It"s so big!" Among the crowd of new cadets for the First Men"s Military Academy, a baby-faced youngster from one of the teams was surprised that this military academy was as large as a city as he looked around the scenery. His huge eyes that looked terrified, as well as his babyface, made him seem adorable.

"Captain, I"m so excited. I didn"t think that I"d be able to get into the First Men"s Military Academy." The baby-faced person was wearing a dreamy expression on his face; it was as though he still hadn"t woken up from the happiness and joy from receiving his acceptance letter.

"Tao Xiaotao, can you be quiet." A somewhat dispirited-looking youngster appeared to have gotten a headache from the loud noise made by the baby-faced person; he couldn"t help but clutch at his forehead.

"Speaking isn"t a crime. Aren"t you excited? This is the First Men"s Military Academy. You know, the academy that took more than half of the overall score of the Grand Mecha Tournament last year. They probably had more than 20,000 points compared to the last few military academies. A score like that also broke the record for the year when General Ling Xiao had partic.i.p.ated in…"

Someone talking to him made Tao Xiaotao even more excited. Yan Wuyou"s defeated expression made a young man beside him lose control and start laughing.

"Rong Ziruo, you also agree with me, don"t you?" Tao Xiaotao saw Rong Ziruo laugh out loud and immediately jumped beside him like a hamster to ask him this question.

Rong Ziruo saw that he was now entangled with Tao Xiaotao and immediately clutched at his forehead while smiling bitterly; he regretted laughing out loud. Once someone became entangled with this Tao Xiaotao, they wouldn"t be able to get away. He was also someone that would never shut up.

"Hey, answer me man. Rong Ziruo, Ziruo, Ziruo, Ziruo." Tao Xiaotao began to chant his name.

"Xiaotao, don"t disturb Ziruo anymore." A young, handsome youth beside Rong Ziruo wore an expression that seemed a bit sorry for him. He quickly advised, "Otherwise, the captain"s going to get angry."

"Hua Qingxin, I"m not going to believe your sissy remarks." Tao Xiaotao wasn"t scared of Hua Qingxin"s threat.

"Shut up!" A cool youth, who had been in the midst of deep thought, was awakened by Tao Xiaotao"s voice. He glanced at Tao Xiaotao with dissatisfaction and coldly told him to stop making noise.

Tao Xiaotao"s body suddenly froze and he immediately bowed his head; this made Hua Qingxin hold his hand to his mouth and snicker in secret. Tao Xiaotao looked at him angrily and responded with his head down, "Yes, Captain!" The captain"s expression was so cold, Xiaotao was so scared.

Beside the cool youth, there stood a young man with a friendly expression on his face. He glanced at Tao Xiaotao, who was pleading to him for attention, and thought it was funny. He couldn"t bear to continue looking at Tao Xiaotao"s pitiful expression, thus he said, "Ling Yi, Xiaotao was only really excited. Just let him off this time."

Ling Yi stared at Tao Xiaotao for a moment before saying, "Tiange, the First Men"s Military Academy isn"t the scout academy we were just at. It is a gathering spot for all the geniuses in the Federation. Powerful people are everywhere. Xiaotao"s jumpy personality could easily cause trouble. For his own good, he must keep it in a bit."

The person who was called Tiange had a surname of Yi and he was their team"s strategist. Upon hearing Ling Yi"s words, Yi Tiange felt that he was right and thus he said, "Ling Yi, you"re right. Xiaotao, shut your mouth now. If you speak another word, I"ll let the captain beat you up."

Hearing this, Tao Xiaotao"s body trembled. The captain"s operating skills was too terrifying and he didn"t want to experience it, so he instantly nodded to show his determination to not speak. He also covered his mouth exaggeratedly to show that he would not speak another word.

After taking care of the jumpy Tao Xiaotao, Yi Tiange remembered something. He looked towards Ling Yi and said, "Ling Yi, you"ve trained with your life on the line before. Even if you were wounded all over, you still wanted to improve your capabilities. When I asked why you put in so much effort, you answered that you needed to chase someone and hope to have a chance to fight alongside him someday…"

Yi Tiange words made Ling Yi"s eyes flicker and show a bit of nostalgia, a bit of pain, a bit of desire, and most of all—resolve.

"Yes!" Ling Yi confirmed Yi Tiange"s words. His affirmation came deep from his throat and actually sounded somewhat hoa.r.s.e.

"Then can you now tell us who that person is?" Yi Tiange finally asked.

Yi Tiange"s questions made the others look towards Ling Yi. The other 5 members of the team also knew that Captain Ling Yi had trained with great effort in order to chase after someone; only, the captain was never willing to tell them who it was. He gave in to pressure in the end, but was only willing to tell them after they got admitted to the First Men"s Military Academy.

Ling Yi went silent for a few seconds. He took a deep breath and replied, "In the Grand Mecha Tournament last year, do you guys remember who led the team of the First Men"s Military Academy?"

Yi Tiange nodded and smiled, saying, "Yes, of course. I remember because the leader wasn"t Qiao Ting, the ace operator that everyone looks up to, but instead an unknown second-year cadet called Ling Lan. It"s also a coincidence that he has the same surname as you."

After Yi Tiange finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something. His smile suddenly vanished and he asked with a frozen expression, "Is it that Ling Lan?"

Ling Yi nodded earnestly, confirming what Yi Tiange had said was true.

"A surname of Ling. Could it be that Ling Lan is the captain"s older brother?" Tao Xiaotao forgot that he wasn"t allowed to speak; he lowered the hand covering his mouth and asked this question in surprise.

At that moment, no one had the time to care about Tao Xiaotao. Ling Yi smiled bitterly and with a shake of his head, replied, "How would that be possible? How could I be qualified to be Young Master Lan"s younger brother?"

Seeing that his team members had expressions of curiosity, Ling Yi checked the surroundings and after seeing that there weren"t any other people around, he continued, "What I"m about to say next is originally not allowed to be told to you guys. However, you guys are all brothers that I trust. I trust you guys. I"ll only say it once. Once you guys hear it, just let it sink in and never tell it to anyone else."

The team members all nodded showing that they understood. Ling Yi"s words made them very emotional, and made them grow closer than ever—they were ready to die for one another.

"Young Master Lan is the master of the Ling family, and I am Young Master Lan"s loyalist." Ling Yi finally told them his ident.i.ty. He instantly felt liberated after telling them because he had felt he was being untruthful to his team members by hiding his real ident.i.ty.