Chapter 30: I command you to attack me!

The teahouse and the area opposite it was a l.u.s.trous silver white.  Within the imposing and extensively magnificent structure was a single channel.  The endless silver white walls, in truth, had countless electronic doors that couldn't be identified with the naked eye.  Those doors were the main entrances to the virtual environment mechanism.  It was open to the Federation's occupational soldiers for the sake of virtual training and fighting.

The entrance that Ling Lan and the others had gone through was actually the back door of the virtual environment mechanism.  Working together with the Scout Academy, it's outside had been camouflaged into a giant field.  This was how Ling Lan was tricked; after all, who would think that such an advanced and niubi1 virtual environment technology would be utilized for the sake of the Scout Academy.  This emphasized the Federation's importance towards children as well as the state's thirst for talent.

Of course, the use of the virtual environment mechanism wasn't just meant for the convenience of the Scout Academy's exams.  In the future,  the improvement of the abilities of these children couldn't do without the support of virtual environment technology.

The examiner walked for a bit along the silver white wall.  To be honest, if he didn't use the signals set on his contact device, he himself wouldn't know which direction room 72 was.  This was because the electronic doors merged completely into the continuous wall, becoming a whole.

After some time, the examiner felt the contact device on his wrist vibrate.  He stopped his feet, his face revealing a slight smile.  It seemed that he found the room he needed to enter.

Although it appeared arbitrary, his groping motions towards the wall had purpose.  Soon, his palm touched something that indicated to him it was there.  He gently pressed it three times.  

The wall changed as the place the examiner pressed lit up.  When he removed his hand, a monitored had appeared in the wall.  The screen showed a keypad with 10 Arabic numerals from 0 to 9, asking for the pa.s.sword.

The examiner smiled as his fingers quickly pressed the numbers on the keypad.  The speed was staggering to the point of making people speechless.  His fingers left a blurry afterimage that didn't allow people to see what numbers he actually pressed.  There was a crisp click and the closed door appeared to have unlocked.  Suddenly, the door slid left, revealing a s.p.a.ce large enough for only a single person to enter.

The moment the examiner walked in, the door closed again.  The corridor outside restored itself to its original, pure silver white walls.  

Upon entering room 72, the examiner saw a s.p.a.cious virtually created runway.  Behind him, the so-called door and wall no longer existed, just a path connecting the examiner’s station and a road that a person couldn't see the end of.  It was so realistic that a person wouldn't be able to believe that it was actually just a wall and door.

The examiner didn't wait for very long when he saw figures appearing in the distance of the runway.  They ran and dragged, fought and supported, their run was staggered – no – perhaps saying that they were walking was more appropriate.  It looked like these children were almost completely exhausted.  In past a.s.sessments, the children would always appear one by one, not like this group.  Everyone moved together with no one left behind and managed to reached the finish line at the same time.

The examiner's heart moved.  Perhaps this was what the monitoring officer wanted to tell him.  Sure enough, they were good kids.

Upon seeing his appearance, the children reacted like they ate some kind of stimulant.  They quickly rushed like ferocious tigers towards him.

The examiner laughed.  It seemed that their near triumph spurred these children to go all out.  Not bad, they were all great materials.  The examiner was very satisfied, impressed by Ling Lan and the kids.

"I saw the examiner…"  The nearly exhausted Qilong glanced up and saw the examiner, the cute kid2 shouted excitedly.  Upon hearing this, the other nine kids became energized.  Their eyes became blood red and like hungry wolves…

Ao wu3!  The ten kids collectively issued a howling wolf cry, as if they spotted delicious food.  Their cosmos4 erupted and they charged towards the distant examiner.

They blasted past the finish line, but didn't slow down.  Rather, they were even fiercer than before and maliciously rushed towards the examiner standing at the side.

The momentum of the ten children charging like starving wolves startled the examiner.  But who what was the examiner?  A professional soldier who had experienced countless interstellar battlefields.  Quickly, his calmness was restored.

"These little b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!"  In the face of their sudden attack, the examiner was very speechless.  With a cold expression, he barely moved – just s.h.i.+fting his body to the side a few times – and avoided the kids's final energy filled tackle.

"d.a.m.n, we couldn't even tackle the examiner!"  Qilong complained5, collapsing onto the runway.  He absolutely refused to give up and hammered the ground with his fist.

Luo Lang, who wasn't far from Qilong, also laid on the ground with a face full of regret.  They only made it to halfway before they started becoming unable to support themselves.  It was Qilong's words that allowed them to suddenly regain some strength.  

The words – they absolutely had to get revenge on the examiner.  They had to overwhelm him and have him become their very bottom meat cus.h.i.+on.  That's right, like a pyramid stack, they had to let the examiners know that they also had a temper.

Alright, it was these few words that caused the ten children's hatred to peak.  It incited the unprecedented energy within their bodies, supporting them forwards until the end.

Sure enough, the power of hatred is invincible.

As for Ling Lan, her cooperation wasn't due to hatred, but because, d.a.m.n, she thought too much.  When she thought about how these little kids were about to overwhelm the adult examiner…was this younger attacks, younger attacks, or younger attacks6?

Alright, Ling Lan was absolutely rotten7.  It was all her past life's fault – she had no limits when reading novels.

The examiner crossed his arms, sneering:  "Heh, still got energy?  Pretty good."  Although his face was cold, his heart was extremely happy.  

d.a.m.n, they were really like the new recruits he trained.  They had momentum, idea, courage – these were only six year old children.  How monstrous, ah.  The examiner's hands began to itch and he suddenly felt the urge to drag these children to his barracks and train them.  In the future they would definitely become qualified soldiers.

Qilong raised his hand in surrender:  "Examiner, we're already out of energy."

The examiner humphed coldly several times:  "If you all want to pa.s.s, then scramble up for me."  Ya de, if you have no energy then how can you yell so loudly.  Who are you trying to lie to?

Qilong made a 'che' sound, but could only bitterly climb up.  Everyone fought hard to complete the test.  If because they couldn't stand up and failed the exam, how embarra.s.sing would that be, ah.  Qilong was deeply influenced by his dad, and thought that a real man died standing.

Since Qilong was the first one to climb up, the second one was obviously Luo Lang.  Although Luo Lang was tired to the point of cramping all over, upon seeing Qilong stand up, he didn't want to lose too him.  Thus he clung tightly to the sc.r.a.p of energy generated by his refusal to lose and also managed to climb up.  After him was Ling Lan, then Han Jijun, Luo Shaoyun, Yuan Youyun, Li Jinghong, and He Zhaoyang stood up together.  Finally, the only two girls in the group, Han Xuya and Luo Chao, stood up too.

Despite falling back down after climbing up repeatedly, in the end they managed to firmly remain standing.  Their eyes was filled with stubbornness against losing.

The examiner was satisfied:  "Pretty good.  You guys have some guts.  Now, I command you to attack me.”

This sentence surprised everyone.

Han Jijun's response was the fastest.  The CPU in his brain ran at high speed trying to a.n.a.lyze the examiner's true intentions from his words.  His expression was very dignified and serious as he asked:  "Why?”

Translated by somnious, unedited

TL's note:  I bet it sounded really strange to read about how the examiner's fingers are really fast!  I'll tell you guys now, it's because there's a big reason.  Mecha piloting requires the pilot to have quick fingers when manipulating the control board.  If you haven't guessed it, this guy's a mecha pilot!

1 牛逼 (niú bī):  Basically it means 'awesome' but like super awesome.

2 Ai the fight between localization and translation – the translation says 'cute' (literally), localization into english says 'this sounds weird' (me, pulling my hair out).

3 嗷嗚 (Áo wū!): Wolf howl noise.

4 小宇宙 (xiǎoyǔzhòu): This is apparently a Saint Seiya reference.  In Chinese, it directly translates into 'small universe' and when used as a Saint Seiya reference, it means the source of power in the body.

5 狗啃泥 (gǒu kěn ní):  Lit. ‘Dog bites mud'.  Google says it's similar to 'dog eats s.h.i.+t', which somehow tangents to 'complaining but not changing bad habits'…

6 年下: Chinese BL slang where the younger one is the 'top'/seme.  Ling Lan.  I'm crying.  Why.  I guess her brain short circuited for a second….囧

7 Chinese slang for fujos.h.i.+.