The curtains were finally lifted on the All-Federation Military Academy Grand Mecha Tournament. First up was the grand opening ceremony at the main stadium at 9 o'clock. This opening ceremony would be broadcast live on the all-federation interplanetary network — both the military and the organisers on planet Qiming took it very seriously.

After waking up early in the morning, Ling Lan washed up and then began circulating her Qi to warm and nurture her body. Over these past two months, the hidden injuries she had received from training with real ace mecha would heal much faster every time she practised her Qi exercises; thus, whenever Ling Lan was awake and had nothing better to do, she would circulate her Qi to take care of her injuries.

However, one month later, Ling Lan discovered the true profundity of the Qi exercises. In the process of healing, her physical const.i.tution was slowly becoming even stronger, though the effects were infinitesimal. If Ling Lan had not noticed how she was gradually receiving lighter injuries from her training with real mecha as time went by, perhaps she would have completely overlooked it, ending up unable to discover this deep secret of the Qi exercises.

This made Ling Lan prize the Qi exercises even more, no longer just practising them only for the sake of treating her injuries. Anytime she was free, she would sit and go through them. Ling Lan's tenacity was rewarded well. Ling Lan felt that the resilience of her body becoming better and better, and so her body's ability to endure the feedback pressure from mecha operation was also becoming stronger and stronger. Naturally, she did not forget to share this discovery with Li Lanfeng; after all, he needed the help of the Qi exercises even more than she did. As long as Li Lanfeng kept up with the exercises, his frail body on the brink of collapse would no longer be a problem he would have to worry about.

After a few circulations, Ling Lan saw that it would soon be the a.s.sembly time as notified by the organisers, and so she left her room and slowly began making her way to the a.s.sembly point.

The a.s.sembly point was at the large square in the middle of the accommodation areas. Ling Lan had only just arrived at the fringes of the square when she could see that there was already a large group of people gathered there. Ling Lan looked around casually and found that almost all the cadets from the various partic.i.p.ating military academies were already here. This made it difficult for her to pinpoint where the First Men's Military Academy was gathering for a moment.

However, Ling Lan was not troubled by it for long. Qi Long, who had long arrived at the square, had immediately sensed his boss's position the moment Ling Lan had come within range. He quickly turned his head and raised his right hand to greet his boss, to show that they were over here.

Qi Long's loud greeting naturally startled some of the other military academy cadets around him. However, after a quick glance at Ling Lan, they no longer dared to look at him.

Ling Lan did not hesitate to head over instantly. Many people were already gathered at Qi Long's side — they were all partic.i.p.ating students from the First Academy. Ling Lan took a look around and found that not only Qiao Ting's group was here, but even the rest from the other factions, Tianji, Wuji, Dwotong and so on were all present. Rather, because she had aimed to arrive right on the dot, she ended up being the last one to arrive.

Still, no one would dare to grumble about it. In fact, many of the youths believed that Ling Lan should be the last one to arrive anyway. Qiao Ting's gaze was complicated as he looked at Ling Lan. He sighed mentally — unexpectedly, unconsciously, the regiment commander of Lingtian, Ling Lan, had already gained prominence in the hearts of the students of the First Men's Military Academy. How easily did this become a matter of fact ... he had strived so hard for four years to obtain this, yet the other had done it so easily ... a bitter feeling tinged with resentment towards fate rose in Qiao Ting's heart — Ling Lan may very well be his rival for life.

As soon as Ling Lan arrived, Wu Jiong who had been coordinating everyone quickly came forward to report to Ling Lan. "Boss Lan, the staff have just notified us that our First Men's Military Academy had been arranged for bus no.397. Now we're just waiting for the other cadets to leave first."

"397?" Ling Lan was taken aback. "So, we'll be the finale?" Don't blame Ling Lan for her surprise — although the First Men's Military Academy was ranked as the number one military academy in the Federation, it had still come in second place for seven consecutive Mecha Grand Tournaments. Ling Lan felt that this kind of results should have made it unlikely for them to be the final ones to take the stage.

"Yes, when I received the notification earlier, I almost did not believe it as well. But then, I thought about it a bit more ..." Wu Jiong glanced towards Qiao Ting not too far away from them, smiled and said, "Maybe it's because of him."

Ling Lan's mind contemplated the idea for a moment and she felt that Wu Jiong's judgment was not wrong. The First Men's Military Academy had been given the special honour of being the finale this time probably because of Qiao Ting — after all, he was known to be the only one after Ling Xiao who had managed to become an ace operator in his fourth year at a military academy. Both the military and the organisers on planet Qiming were pinning high hopes on Qiao Ting; as such, they did not dare to disgrace Qiao Ting in any way at this time.

Qi Long did not care at all about whether they were the finale or not. With a hint of reluctance, he asked Ling Lan in a soft whisper, "Boss, are we really going to let Qiao Ting be the team leader during the opening ceremony?" The team leader would be the one to bear the school flag during the opening ceremony. Every cadet viewed this position as a mark of honour, which was why Qi Long felt rather unwilling to let it go to Qiao Ting. His boss was clearly the true leader — why did Qiao Ting have to be one to enjoy the limelight?

"Isn't that fine? He's a primary force in this Mecha Grand Tournament. It makes complete sense for him to bear the school flag," said Ling Lan nonchalantly. Compared to fame, she would rather have obscurity. Her gender had determined that she would not be able to walk into the public eye.

Qi Long was still rather disgruntled because, in his heart, Boss was the greatest. Although Qiao Ting was an ace operator, his boss was one too! Moreover, his boss was a supreme genius who had managed to advance to ace level in just one year at the military academy — this was not something someone like Qiao Ting could compare with. However, Qi Long also knew that his boss would not change his mind once he had decided on something, and so Qi Long sullenly shut up.

When 9 o'clock came, the square began to bustle. One by one the hover buses arrived at the square, picking up batch after batch of students. Under the arrangements of the staff, everything proceeded in an organised manner and with the pa.s.sage of time, the number of students in the square gradually dwindled. Around 10 o'clock, it was finally the First Men's Military Academy's turn. They were the only ones left at the square by this time.

Qiao Ting reflexively glanced over at Ling Lan, and when Ling Lan nodded at him, Qiao Ting sucked in a deep breath and shouted, "Let us board!" After saying that, he was the first to step onto the no.397 hover bus.

The First Men's Military Academy lined up according to their faction ranks, boarding the bus in an organised manner. The last group to board the bus was Ling Lan's team. When the final person, Xie Yi, had boarded, the no.397 hover bus left the large square, flying towards the main venue.

********

At this time, three middle-aged men were standing in a corner of the large square. There were several other people behind them as well, and all of them were watching as the First Men's Military Academy moved. The middle-aged man on the left said to the one in the middle, "Old Zhou, what do you think about the First Men's Military Academy this time round?"

The man in the middle merely huffed coldly without replying. The eyes of the man on the left flickered; displeased with the non-answer, he once again said provocatively, "I heard that your team leader this time suffered a loss at the other's hands, and the one he was disgraced by was just some nameless small fry. It looks like for you all to get first place this time, it'll be a little risky ..."

The other's gleeful tone of schadenfreude successfully provoked the man in the middle. He sneered and mocked back, "Old Wu, I heard that many of the team leaders in the Mecha Grand Tournament this time are ace operators. You all better prepare properly ... don't let your ranking drop from the top four to outside the top ten and disgrace all the men's academies." He turned his head to look at the man on the right who had been quiet all this time and asked, "Right, Old Cao?"

The man on the right had a nice guy face. With a wide smile, he said, "Now that you've mentioned it, Old Zhou, I really feel the pressure." He then looked at the man on the left, sighed and said, "Old Wu, looks like we'll need to keep an eye out for each other and share a helping hand so we don't lose face when the time comes."

Old Cao had barely finished speaking when Old Zhou's face turned black. Meanwhile, on the left side, Old Wu laughed — Old Cao was willing to help him both implicitly and explicitly, so of course he was glad.

The dark-faced Old Zhou smiled coldly. "Old Cao, don't take care of others so much that you suffer instead." His tone carried a vague hint of threat — without the help of his school, did they really think it would be so easy to place well?

In order to contend with the First Men's Military Academy, their three military academies had tacitly cooperated with each other in the final battle royal for the past few tournaments, working together to eliminate the First Men's Military Academy. Things should have been the same this year as well, but unexpectedly, the third place First Co-ed Military Academy and the fourth place Third Men's Military Academy were actually having second thoughts and had begun ostracizing his military academy now. Could it be that they were dissatisfied because his academy had taken first place for four consecutive tournaments, not giving way to either of the other two?

It turned out that these three men were actually all from the top four schools, the three other military academies besides the First Men's Military Academy. Old Zhou in the middle was from the Second Men's Military Academy which had obtained first place for many consecutive Mecha Grand Tournaments. Old Wu on the left was from the Third Men's Military Academy which had placed fourth last tournament, while Old Cao on the right was from the First Co-ed Military Academy which had placed third last tournament. This time, they had rushed here to the large square together just so they could check out the students who were representing the First Men's Military Academy this year.

Old Cao did not seem to pick up on Old Zhou's threat; still smiling calmly, he said, "How could that happen? No matter how strong the opponent is, we'll still need to work hard and not let others pull one over us."

Old Zhou's complexion improved a little at those words — Old Cao had obviously compromised a little with his reply. Truly, if he did not bare some teeth, they would not behave.

After Old Wu heard these words, he glanced at the agreeable Old Cao and became pensive.

The three men saw that there was nothing left here for them to do, so they bid each other farewell. Then, leading their own a.s.sistants, they all went their respective ways.

On the Second Men's Military Academy end, the a.s.sistant behind Old Zhou said with a worried expression, "Faculty head, the Third Men's Military Academy and the First Co-ed Military Academy ... what did they mean? Could it be that they don't want to work together anymore?"

Old Zhou smiled coldly and replied, "It's fine. Leave them be for a bit. The compet.i.tions at the front depends on themselves. It won't be that easy for them to obtain good results. By the time the marks are tallied up, even if they don't want to work with us, they'll still have to. I don't believe that they would be willing to give up their current positions."

Only then did the a.s.sistant breathe a sigh of relief — the faculty head was still more impressive, knowing to leave the line long to nab bigger fish.

Meanwhile, on the First Co-ed Military Academy's end, there was also a conversation going on. However, Old Chao was no longer smiling at this moment, and his a.s.sistant was equally indignant. "The Second Men's Military Academy actually dared to do such a thing ... do they really think we will still want to work with them?"

Old Cao sneered and said, "Really thinking that we, the First Co-ed Military Academy, are made from glutinous rice?! Actually daring to target our female students ... what b.a.s.t.a.r.ds." The incensed nice guy could not help cursing, "If not for the people from the First Men's Military Academy, our Stars.h.i.+p Navigation prodigy would probably have been ruined just like that, and they actually acted like nothing had happened. They're really going too far! This time, even if our results leave us at the bottom, we will pull the Second Men's Military Academy off their pedestal. We will let them know that we, the First Co-ed Military Academy, have our pride and temper!"既生瑜何生亮: This original saying here doesn't have a proper English equivalent. It's from the 'Tale of Three Kingdoms', famous words from a character called Zhou Yu lamenting his fate at being born in the same era as the brilliant tactician Zhuge Liang, forever outcla.s.sed by the other. The saying literally translates to 'Since you've given birth to Yu, then why did you give birth to Liang'. Here, the author is drawing a parallel between Qiao Ting's feelings towards Ling Lan and how Zhou Yu felt in the past about Zhuge Liang.The author actually does use 'glutinous rice' here. The intended meaning is that the SMMA was treating the FCMA like they are soft and squishy, i.e. weak and easy to bully.