Chapter 178: Ling Lan Wakes Up!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
The dean believed that he had obtained the truth. With this, he could explain why that water elemental Domain master had never left the scene — he had probably been killed by Mu Shui-qing right at that spot. And this was also why Mu Shui-qing clearly knew the opponent had been a water elemental Domain master.
Connecting the dots, the dean arrived at an answer. This would also explain why Lu Nan had been unable to lock on to the other two energy signatures. Think about it, how could a Domain stage person use their abilities across stages to track the movements of a God-Realm master? Perhaps at the very moment of locking on, this Old Beast had already noticed the trace, and had then given a slight warning by using mysterious means to destroy part of Lu Nan's energy.
Sure of his answer, the dean's initial bewilderment over the mysterious Domain masters was quelled, and his restless heart settled. Anything was the scariest when it was still unknown — once a reasonable explanation was found, then it would no longer be as frightening.
At ease now, the dean's demeanour became even more respectful. He said to Mu Shui-qing, "Instructor Mu, how could I ever forget you, old man 1 . You will forever be the instructor of the Marshal and I. But, what are you doing here?"
"If I don't come, should I just watch as Ling Xiao's child dies here? What the hell is wrong with your safety measures here? Allowing unidentified enemies to infiltrate so easily?" Mu Shui-qing's expression was one of extreme dissatisfaction, full of anger at the ease with which enemies had entered the scout academy.
Hearing this, the dean complained in his heart: No matter how tight security is, won't it all be rubbish in your eyes? Won't you still be able to come and go as you please? Of course, the dean only dared to say this in his mind; facing Mu Shui-qing's merciless scolding, he did not dare to argue at all. He could only nod repeatedly and say, "Yes, yes, yes, we did not do enough. We'll definitely correct this."
"Since you know, aren't you going to go and find out who exactly that water elemental Domain master is for me? Where in the world is he hiding now?" Mu Shui-qing was rather worried. An unknown Domain master hiding undercover by Ling Lan's side ... this was extremely dangerous for Ling Lan. After all, he could not stay beside Ling Lan to watch over him at all times.
"Uh ...." The dean cast a speechless glance at Mu Shui-qing. The opponent had clearly already died at his hands, why did he still want him to go and investigate?
Recalling that Mu Shui-qing had always been a black-bellied person since the past, the dean could not help but think a little deeper. Could it be that Instructor Mu wanted to take the opportunity to clean up some of the other factions within the academy?
At this notion, a sharp coldness emerged on the dean's face. Indeed, this was a great chance. These past few years, pressure from various parties had given him no choice but to compromise, letting different factions place various people with differing objectives into the academy as instructors. This had caused some unwelcome new developments to appear in the school's culture. It was indeed time to find an opportunity to straighten things up a bit, and restore a clean order to the academy.
Just as the Marshal reminded them, the scout academies were the cradle where their legion of troops was cultivated. They needed all kinds of resources, but should reject all politics.
"Understood, Instructor Mu!" Figuring things out, the dean immediately nodded and agreed, but then continued to say, "However, right now is still the time of the grand armed melee. I can't perform any large-scale cleaning up. I hope to comprehensively reorganise the entire scout academy after the grand armed melee ends, giving peace back to the academy, as well as giving you and Mistress Ling an acceptable accounting then."
"Good! Just do as you say, do not forget your promise." Touched, Mu Shui-qing patted the dean's shoulder. Although this student of his had always been somewhat soft in his character, when necessary, he could still be determined enough. Mu Shui-qing's initial discontentment with Ye Yifan vanished, and he couldn't help but pat his shoulder again in approval.
The two of them were actually talking about two completely different things, and yet their responses matched up flawlessly. They both thought that the other understood what they were saying, and that they too understood what the other wanted to do ...
Seeing that Mu Shui-qing was satisfied, the dean took the opportunity to suggest that Lan Luofeng inform the Ling family mecha squad outside not to trespass without reason and just wait patiently for the grand armed melee to end. Given some time, he would definitely give the Ling family a satisfactory answer.
Obtaining the response she wanted, Lan Luofeng agreed to let the Ling family mecha squad return to the Ling family estate ... Just like that, the major incident that was about to break out among the two parties subsided in this mutual agreement, both sides patiently waiting for the end of the grand armed melee.
Lan Luofeng had agreed to wait so readily in large part because Ling Lan had been the one to initiate this grand armed melee. Thus, she did not want this momentous grand armed melee to be stopped halfway.
********
24 hours passed by quickly. In the end, at 319 people versus 171 people, and a score of 14922 versus 10776, the 7th graders soundly defeated the 10th graders, becoming the ultimate victors of the grand armed melee.
At the same time, they officially became the strongest grade within the scout academy. All students of the other grades, when faced with a 7th grade student (with a uniform of the same colour), needed to submit and give way. This was an acknowledgement of the strong — because the results fought for by the 7th grade had obtained the recognition of the entire academy. Of course, there were still those who did not want to submit. After a year, they would be free to challenge the 7th grade then and initiate another grand armed melee ... to fight for the title of the strongest grade!
Meanwhile, after being comatose for several days, Ling Lan finally woke up. She found herself inside the learning space, her entire mind somewhat at a loss.
"Boss, you finally woke up!" Little Four, who had been fiddling with his own fingers alone in the learning space, abruptly saw Ling Lan appear before him, and instantly pounced at her emotionally ... his tears gushed out like a waterfall, almost drowning Ling Lan.
"Stop! If you don't stop now, even if I'm not dead yet I'll be drowned to death by you ..." Ling Lan poked Little Four's head weakly, wanting him to keep those worthless tears to himself 2 .
"Boss, I've been so worried these past few days, being unable to find you all this time ..." sniffled Little Four.
"Don't you see I'm fine? I'm still alive. Looks like while I was still unconscious, someone saved me ... Little Four, I want to know who saved me. What happened back then?" Ling Lan asked Little Four, eager to know the truth of the matter.
"At that critical moment, Number Five took over your body, Boss, instantly wiping that horrible fellow out ... originally, Number Nine was the one who was supposed to come out, but Number Five was disobedient and rushed to come out first. It's because of him that your body, Boss, is in such a terrible condition. Number Nine said that Number Five's power exceeded Boss's by too much, and so caused much more damage to Boss's body. If she had been the one to come out, the situation would have been better," Little Four prattled on, telling Ling Lan what had happened.
"So the instructors can control my body, this is the first time I'm hearing about it ..." Ling Lan had not expected that the instructors of the learning space could borrow her body to come to her world. This made her wonder — what in the world was the learning space exactly? Was it really just a simple assistive learning device?
The more Ling Lan thought about it, the more mysterious she found this learning device in her head to be. Her heart couldn't help but beat erratically — who knew if this was ultimately good or bad for her?
"This is nothing. If your technology here hadn't been so useless, they could have long actualised themselves," scoffed Little Four. If the technology here were just a bit more advanced, then he would not have to be so helpless every time Boss encountered danger, only being able to watch without being able to do anything.
"Actualise?" Ling Lan was stunned. She couldn't help but chase the thought, "Little Four, what is that exactly?"
Little Four felt that he had made a major slip-up, and so began looking around aimlessly, pretending that he could not hear anything. No matter what, he was unwilling to continue discussing this topic.
Seeing Little Four's actions, Ling Lan realised that this must definitely be something tied to the rules and restrictions of the system. As a support intelligence-entity, the system seemed to impose many restrictions on Little Four. Having figured this out, Ling Lan did not want to put Little Four in a tight spot, and so stopped asking. Ling Lan knew that if this was something he could tell her, Little Four definitely would not hide it from her. Although she was indeed very interested in what 'actualization' involved, she did not want Little Four to be punished and harmed by the system's restrictions. At the heart of it, Little Four was much more important than all of that.
Seeing Boss Ling Lan letting him off with so much understanding, Little Four was instantly greatly moved. Chirp, chirp, chirp 3 ... his boss was just the greatest! He must definitely work hard to evolve and become even stronger ... once he became strong enough that the restrictions and bindings become ineffective against him, then he would be able to tell all these secrets to Boss!
At this moment, Little Four's yearning to become strong became increasingly more intense, and his distaste for the system's bindings increased correspondingly ... this also spurred him to deviate from the original developmental pathway set for him by the system, to truly become a powerful, independent, emotionally-capable Little Four.
Ling Lan skipped over the topic, turning instead to ask about other things. Thus, she found out that the 7th grade had not disappointed, securing the victory of the grand armed melee, and becoming the final beneficiaries. Moreover, under the academy's instructors diligent monitoring, along with their speedy rescues, no deaths occurred in this grand armed melee. Of course, the number of wounded was indeed rather staggering — a whole 3000 people had bled and incurred injuries, while 800 of these had serious wounds. It was clear to see how intense and violent the grand armed melee had been.
After being informed, Ling Lan breathed a sigh of relief. She had been the one to initiate the grand armed melee — although she had already been mentally prepared for deaths and injuries in the process, this final outcome was undoubtedly a perfect one ... this made her very happy.
However, what Little Four told her next gave her pause — she never knew that that eminent master living in the Ling family mansion had such a complex background, capable of changing the course of her life with just a simple sentence ... was she really about to leave the scout academy where she had lived for 7 years?
Thinking of the little companions who had grown up alongside her, some reluctance welled up in Ling Lan's heart. Unknowingly, she had already accepted them into her heart, truly considering them as her own dear younger siblings.
However, the cold rationality Ling Lan cultivated within the learning space very quickly chased away this little bit of reluctance. Ling Lan knew very well that everyone had their own paths to walk — she could not always shelter them under her wings. Letting them learn how to be independent earlier would be better for their future development.
Besides, there was a secret inside Ling Lan's heart. That was that, she would not choose to enrol in the First Men's Military Academy. Instead, she would enrol in a co-ed military school in a distant galaxy to finish up the remainder of her studies. After that, she would traverse the starry skies, gradually disappearing from the public eye ... to regain her female identity, it was necessary for her to leave the people who were familiar with her. Therefore, instead of making them unbearably sad then, she might as well take the chance to leave now. This way, at that time, she would be able to find a very good excuse to leave this planet.