Chapter 631 - Your Name Is Little Blossom!
Everyone was enlightened. Ling Lan just asked them questions. She didn't promise them that she would let them go.
"Despicable, shameless." The middle-aged men broke down when they knew that they were about to die.
Ling Lan looked at them with pity. She truly didn't want to kill so many people. However, these people saw her face. If they just did some research, they would figure out her identity. Her father worked so hard to keep her gender a secret. If he knew that she had other secrets, he might grow more white hair.
In order to make things easier for her father, Ling Lan decided to kill these people.
These people were assassins. They would do anything for money. Ling Lan would feel no guilt killing them.
The noisy room became silent again. These people would never be able to open their mouth again. All of them turned into ice statues. They still wore an angry expression with their mouths wide open…
"Boom." The ice statues exploded into ice crystals and disappeared in the air. No trace was left behind. It was as though these people never existed.
The young man was shocked when he saw this scene. Even though he had prepared himself mentally, he was still frightened when he saw his comrades disappearing like that.
Ling Lan looked at the young man indifferently. She seemed to be considering what to do with this person.
Ling Lan had a good impression of this young man. At least he was not someone who would betray his organization to live.
Those secrets might not be important in the eyes of these people. They might only be scolded when they went back to their society. Hence, it was reasonable that they would choose to betray their organization to gain a chance to live. But, Ling Lan felt that no matter how important the information was, betraying was still betraying.
This young man was a loyal person. That was the reason why she left him alive. Ling Lan liked people who were loyal.
"Are there any poisons which only I have the antidote for?" Ling Lan asked Little Four in her mindscape.
Little Four pondered about the question seriously. "You can ask Li Shiyu to invent a poison." With Li Shiyu's ability, it should be easy for him to concoct an incurable poison. "However, it would be difficult to be the only person with the antidote."
With how advanced technology in this era was, it was easy to create more than one specific antidote for a poison.
"I can only kill this young man then." Ling Lan sighed. She realized that she became more vicious. Even when she was deciding whether someone should live, she was calm. She was moving away from the person who used to lie on a hospital bed all the time.
Little Four suddenly thought of something. His eyes twinkled. He asked, "Boss, do you really want to keep this person alive? Are you not afraid that he would betray you?"
"Yes, I want him alive. But, I can't make sure that he will not betray us."
"Actually… it might be possible," Little Four replied.
Ling Lan narrowed her eyes when she heard what he said. "Little Four, did you keep something from me?"
Little Four shrunk back a little when he heard the threatening tone. He lowered his head and said meekly, "There is something…"
"What is that something?" Ling Lan was curious. She knew that Little Four did many things behind her back but since he never hindered her business, she would just let him off.
Ling Lan knew that Little Four was lonely. The 10 instructors in the learning space wouldn't chat with him and she couldn't accompany him all the time. She had her parents, her friends, and her own life. Ling Lan hoped that Little Four could have his own hobbies when he was alone to remain happy.
Thus, Ling Lan was not angry when she heard what Little Four said. But, in order to prevent Little Four from getting too overboard in the future, she still pretended to angry.
Little Four already had the intention to tell Ling Lan about Little Blossom. Hence, he told Ling Lan everything what she asked.
Ling Lan's mouth twitched when she heard the nickname. Little Blossom? How did Little Four manage to come up with such a mundane name? She felt sympathy for this flower that had to live with such a name.
"Little Blossom is going to wake up soon. Boss, hurry up and follow me." Little Four grabbed Ling Lan's hand excitedly and transported her to a dark room.
Ling Lan immediately saw a pretty baby around three years old floating in the air. There were silver threads all around his body. She could feel the energy on these silver threads being transmitted to the baby.
The baby felt a human presence so he started opening its eyes slowly.
While Ling Lan was looking at the baby intently, she was caught off her guard when Little Four suddenly pushed her forward. She almost bumped into the baby but she managed to stop herself in time. Her face was very near the baby's face.
Ling Lan looked at the watery and clear eyes in front of her. It was pure. This was what a baby's eyes should be like. Innocent, clean, and pure.
Her face reflected in the baby's eyes. He seemed to remembering and confirming something…
"Master!" The baby opened his mouth. Ling Lan frowned when she heard the term. She knew that Little Four must be behind this. "Little Four, come out!"
Little Four came out from the dark. He smiled and said, "Boss, Little Blossom would recognize the first person he sees as his master."
"You arranged this?" Ling Lan believed that Little Four did something to this baby.
However, his reply surprised her. "No. intelligent entities like us followed one rule. If the first thing we see when we open our eyes is a human, that human becomes our master. If the first thing we see is an object, we will evolve based on that object."
Little Four's explanation was not detailed because he didn't know much too. This was a restriction that happened naturally. It might exist to prevent the intelligent entities from becoming too powerful.
Ling Lan pondered over his words. She glanced at Little Four and asked, "When you woke up, I was the first person that you saw?"
Little Four tried to recall. "I think so. In my memory, you are my master."
While Ling Lan and Little Four were talking, Little Blossom looked at them with a puzzled expression. He was thinking why his master wasn't talking to him.
"Master?" Little Blossom didn't like Little Four.
Ling Lan's heart skipped a beat when she heard the delicate voice. She looked over.
Little Blossom was elated when he saw his master had his attention on him. He said respectfully, "Please give me a name." Ever since he saw Ling Lan, he couldn't help but like her.
Little Blossom didn't know that he had been named by Little Four already. He looked at Ling Lan with anticipation.
Before Ling Lan could speak, Little Four got agitated. He grabbed Ling Lan's hand and said seriously, "Boss, he is called Little Blossom!" He was willing to give up Little Blossom but he must keep the name. This was the only right he had left.
Ling Lan felt helpless. She didn't like this name. The baby was so cute. How could he have such a mundane name? She felt pity for Little Blossom… why was she calling him Little Blossom? Seemed like Little Four had brainwashed her.
"Little Blossom," Little Four shouted firmly when he saw Ling Lan hesitating.
"Okay, you will be called Little Blossom." Ling Lan looked at Little Blossom apologetically. Little Four was an important family member to her. She didn't want to reject Little Four and hurt him. So, she relented. However, Ling Lan still felt bad for Little Blossom. She decided to treat Little Blossom better in the future to compensate him.
"Little Blossom, you will be named Little Blossom from now on." Little Four jumped in front of Little Blossom happily.
"Little Blossom, my name?" Little Blossom looked at Ling Lan.
"Yes, your name will be Little Blossom. He is Little Four. You two will be brothers from now on. You two must take care of each other." Ling Lan pointed at Little Four and introduced him to Little Blossom.
Little Blossom didn't know how bad this name was. As a newborn, getting a name meant that he had been acknowledged. Little Blossom was happy that he had been acknowledged.
He cut the silver threads around him and came in front of Ling Lan. He said seriously, "Little Blossom is elated. Little Blossom understand. Little Blossom will take care of Little Four."
Little Four hit Little Blossom head. Little Blossom was flabbergasted as he didn't know why Little Four hit him.
"You cannot call me Little Four. You must call me Elder Brother Four," Little Four said proudly.
"Elder Brother Four?" Ling Lan snorted.
Little Four immediately became sad. He looked like a deflated balloon. He said, "How about Little Brother Four?"
Little Blossom looked at Ling Lan. He was awaiting Ling Lan's order. Ling Lan nodded. "He is older than you. You should call him Little Brother Four."
Little Blossom received the order and called obediently, "Little Brother Four!"
Little Four was so delighted that he did a somersault in the air. He finally had a younger brother! It felt so good!
Ling Lan looked at the excited Little Four and then looked at the puzzled Little Blossom. She smiled. With Little Blossom around, Little Four might not be so lonely anymore. Only an intelligent entity would know what other intelligent entities needed. She didn't feel so speechless anymore.
However. Ling Lan couldn't let Little Four be excited for too long. She grabbed Little Four and asked, "Shouldn't you explain how can Little Blossom help me control the young man? Can he make poison?"
Little Four didn't mind being lifted up by Ling Lan. He smiled. "You are right. Little Blossom can make poison. However, his poison would not harm a person's body. It would just harm the person's spiritual power."
Ling Lan's eyes lit up. "Spiritual power? How?"
"Boss, you should know that the Doomsday Flower could destroy the virtual world. The reason why it was feared by humans and intelligent entities is because it consumes a human's spiritual power as well as intelligent entities." Little Four shivered in fear.
Ling Lan looked at Little Blossom in surprised. Little Blossom didn't know that Little Four was talking about him. She didn't expect such a cute and naive baby to be so frightening. Her expression changed. "Will he consume my spiritual power?" If he would, it would be like raising a devil inside of her.
"No." Little Four rolled his eyes at his boss. How could he put his boss at risk? "Once entities like us recognize a master, we will be unable to harm him or her. Hence, Little Blossom would be unable to harm you and the things related to you… for instance, he would be unable to harm me or any other entities in your mindscape."
Chapter 632 - Life Or Death?
Ling Lan relaxed after hearing Little Four's explanation. Little Four continued, "Little Blossom is still a baby. Thus, he doesn't have the capability to make any independent decisions. He will not be able to consume other people's spiritual power without your approval. The energy in this space is enough for him to evolve. Little Blossom does not need to consume spiritual power and intelligent entities to fuel his evolution."
Little Four glanced at Ling Lan carefully before saying, "Of course, if you voluntarily allow your spiritual power to be consumed to help Little Blossom evolve, Little Blossom would consume it."
Ling Lan stared at him intently. Little Four immediately waved his hands and emphasized, "You must do it voluntarily. If you don't, Little Blossom will never consume your spiritual power…"
Ling Lan nodded calmly. Little Four heaved a sigh of relief. He finally managed to pass this obstacle. Sob, boss looked so frightening just now.
"Even if Little Blossom can consume spiritual power, he will not be able to control the other party. He can only kill them." Although Little Blossom's ability was scary, it was different from what she wanted.
"Intelligent entities like us have replicas of ourselves. You can ask Little Blossom to hide his in the mindscape of the other party. Once he noticed that the other party wants to betray you, the replica will be awaken and consume the other party's spiritual power causing him to be brain dead." Little Four finally told Ling Lan how to use Little Blossom properly.
Ling Lan felt her heart pounding furiously. She didn't expect Little Blossom to be so powerful and frightening. This was an ultimate killing weapon. If she used this method to guard against other people, she would not need to worry about them betraying her.
Ling Lan spent quite a long time in the learning space but for the young man, she just went into deep thought for a moment. The next moment, Ling Lan stood in front of him and asked indifferently, "Do you want to live or do you want to die?"
The young man's eyes lit up. If there was a chance, he wanted to live. However, he thought about something and his eyes dimmed again. "I will never betray the society. Just kill me."
When he was at the end of his rope, one of the leaders of Soul Society found him and took him into Soul Society. His life was changed because of this opportunity. If he was a nobody in the Soul Society, he might betray the Soul Society in exchange for his life. But, his talent was noticed and was specially nurtured. That meant that he would never be able to leave the Soul Society.
His family members had been taken away by the Soul Society and was sent to a secret base. Every year, he would sit on a cruise sent by the Soul Society and visit his family. Yet, he could never remember the place where they were held hostage.
If he betrayed Soul Society and was found out, his entire family would die a horrible death. He couldn't let that happen.
"You want to live but you still chose death…" Ling Lan saw the struggle in his eyes.
A chair made of ice formed behind Ling Lan. Ling Lan sat down and looked at the young man who was kneeling in front of her. She seemed to be thinking about something.
"It must be someone important to you to risk your life for it. If I am right, you want to protect either your family or your lover. Which one is it?" Ling Lan placed her hand on her chin and asked the young man.
The young man's face changed. He didn't expect the other party to guess his secret so quickly. He pursed his lips and refused to answer Ling Lan's question.
Ling Lan didn't expect the young man to reply too. She continued, "You are a calm and logical person. Thus, you know how to make the best decision for yourself. I overheard your conversations when I came by. If I am not wrong, you should be the commanding officer of this operation. To reach this position, you must have spent a long time in the Soul Society."
"The rules of the Soul Society must have been around for quite a long time. Based on your character and ability, you will not allow yourself to have any weaknesses. Hence, you will never be in love with someone until the stage where you want to protect her with your life. That means that the people in danger are your family members…" Ling Lan exposed the young man's secret
"If you are unable to find a solution for this problem until now, it could only mean that your family members had been captured by the society." Ling Lan knocked her fingers on the ice chair. "Looks like it will be difficult to have you betray the Soul Society."
The young man followed Ling Lan's words carefully. When he heard the last sentence, he heaved a sigh of relief. He was grateful that this person didn't force him to betray the Soul Society.
He was shocked by his own thoughts. Why did he feel grateful towards him?
"However, can you be sure that once you die, the Soul Society will release your family members?" Ling Lan smiled coldly. She stared at the young man with sharp eyes.
The young man was stunned. He looked at Ling Lan fearfully. This was something that worried him for many years. He wanted to find the exact location of where his family was held hostage because he was afraid that once he got killed, the Soul Society would kill his family members too. As they would be useless to them. He had stayed in the Soul Society for a long time now so he knew how heartless the people inside Soul Society were. There were no useless people in the Soul Society.
"Let me remind you, young man. I will kill you using the same method as how I kill the rest of your group. You will turn into ice and disappear from the world. So do you think that the Soul Society will believe that you are dead or will they think that you had betrayed them and ran away?" Ling Lan's tone was calm but her words were straight to the point.
"You know that the Soul Society will most probably feel that you had betrayed them. Only people that were alive would destroy all their traces. Dead people can't do that. Unless the person who killed them had the hobby of collecting corpse… but, no matter what, there would still be some evidence left. But what could they find here? Blood? Weapons? Killing techniques? Can you see any traces of those left behind?"
Ling Lan's words were surprising but it didn't cause the young man to waver. He knew that the Soul Society didn't need their corpse to ascertain whether they were dead or not. They had their own method. Outsiders didn't know this…
He hoped that the Soul Society would keep their promise after he died. Even if they didn't release his family members, he hoped that they would let them live in the secret base until they would die naturally.
Suddenly, a communication bead appeared in front of him. A cold voice rang beside his ear. "You think that this thing can inform the Soul Society that you died?"
The young man was dumbfounded. He didn't understand what Ling Lan wanted to say.
"Can you tell me whose communication bead is this? And has it lost its communication ability?" Ling Lan asked the young man to take a closer look.
The young man took the communication bead from the fair and slender hand. He looked at it carefully. His expression suddenly changed. He confirmed that it was 9th Elder's communication bead. He saw 9th Elder disappearing into ice particles with his own eyes. However, his communication bead still showed that he was still alive. This didn't make any sense.
"The spiritual power of the user is stored within the communication bead. Once the user died, the spiritual power inside will disappear naturally. Once all the spiritual power disappears, the person will be announced as dead. If I just keep the spiritual power of the user within the communication bead, I can make sure that his death would not be noticed," Ling Lan explained.
The young man broke down when he heard this. He knew that if he chose death, the other party would keep his spiritual power inside his communication bead. They would think that he was still alive and had betrayed them, his family members would be killed as a result of that…
"I don't want to die!" Since death couldn't protect his family, he had no reason to seek death.
"Very good. I like working with smart people." Ling Lan clapped her hand indifferently.
The young man stared at Ling Lan with his cold eyes. He hated and feared this person. This was someone who played with his heart and forced him into a dead end. In the end, he had no choice but to work with him. If his family members died because of his decision this time, he would kill this demon and destroy the Soul Society.
The young man calmed down after making a decision. He asked, "What do you want to know about the Soul Society?"
Ling Lan smiled. "I am not interested in the Soul Society."
The young man was astounded. Why did he took so much time to threaten and entice him then?
"I am interested in you." Ling Lan raised her eyebrows.
The young man tensed up. Was he talking about that kind of interest? Some higher authorities did like pretty boys. They would find pretty boys to satisfy their fetishes. These pretty boys willingly gave up their bodies in order to climb up in rank. But, he as a straight man. He would never…
Erm, there is no such thing as never when it comes to a person's life. The young man gritted his teeth and said helplessly, "I am willing to give you anything you want."
Ling Lan was stunned when she saw the young man's expression. She wondered why he looked so humiliated.
Little Four started laughing uncontrollably in the mindscape. Ling Lan glared at him. Little Four stopped laughing immediately. Little Four's laughter caused Ling Lan to understand what the young man was thinking about.
She looked at the young man with disdain. "Don't worry. If I like man, I have many better looking men around me. I am just interested in your brain. I don't want my men to be exposed when they sneak into your society."
The young man was relieved. He managed to keep his chrysanthenum's virginity. He accepted Ling Lan's request to be a spy. It was a better option.
After that, the two of them had a peaceful conversation. Ling Lan knew that this young man was called Min Zhenyun. In Soul Society, he was called Xia Qingyi. There were four main groups in the Soul Society's east planetary sector business. They were known as summer, spring, autumn, and winter. Each group had four small teams in it. Everyone had their own nicknames. Min Zhenyun was under the Qing team of the summer group. He was ranked first in their team so his name was called Xia (which means summer) Qing (name of his team) Yi (which means one).
Ling Lan realized how big the Soul Society was after Xia Qingyi's explanation. If she wanted to get the materials for the communication bead from them, it might be even harder than stealing from the Federation.
However, she would not give up. It was impossible to get the materials from the Federation so her only hope was the Soul Society.
Ling Lan got Little Blossom to make a replica of himself and implanted the replica into Xia Qingyi's mindscape. Xia Qingyi didn't know how Ling Lan did it but he knew that there was a frightening thing inside his mind.
Ling Lan told him that if he had any thoughts about betraying her, the thing inside his mind would kill his brain. He would become brain dead. Hence, she wished that he would be careful. She didn't want him to die because of a careless mistake.
Xia Qingyi believed Ling Lan completely. His instinct told him that this thing in his mind was powerful and threatening. Xia Qingyi didn't tell Ling Lan the reason he was taken in by the Soul Society was because of his powerful instinct. With it, he was able to make accurate predictions. Before this, he thought that his innate talent was strong enough. However, now, he felt that it was still lacking. If not, why didn't he predict that this mission would be a failure?
Xia Qingyi didn't know that Ling Lan had the Profound Insight which was the highest level innate talent within the instinct talent section. When met with other innate talents from the same section, the other talents couldn't be used and the predictions made would be wrong.
That was why Xia Qingyi made many wrong decisions in this mission. He was fooled by his own innate talent.
Ling Lan prepared to leave after settling everything. Xia Qingyi shouted, "Are you planning to leave just like that? How will I explain this to my superiors?"
Ling Lan looked at him with a smile. She replied nonchalantly, "This will be a test for you. If you can't pass this test, it means that you are not good enough to be my subordinate. I don't take in useless people."
After finishing her sentence, Ling Lan disappeared from Xia Qingyi's sight.
Chapter 633 - Fake?
Xia Qingyi scanned the empty and messy room while clenching his fists. He was not useless. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. He started thinking of a way out of this mess.
"I will continue to let 9th Elder and Demon Fire appear to be alive. All the best to you." Ling Lan's voice suddenly appeared beside Xia Qingyi…
Xia Qingyi's eyes lit up. His new master was not as heartless as he thought. He even gave him a hint. He knew what to do now.
At this moment, Qi Long and the rest of the team were finishing up their battle too.
Zhao Jun managed to enter the floor below with Li Lanfeng covering him. When the assassins were all focused on Li Lanfeng, he sneaked behind their backs and fired at them furiously.
Half of the assassins in the stairwell were killed. The other half managed to react in time and changed the direction of their nozzle to defend their backs. When they were prepared to shoot at Zhao Jun, Zhao Jun quickly hid behind a pillar.
When Li Lanfeng heard the commotion downstairs, he knew that Zhao Jun had acted. He jumped down without any hesitation. As the assassins were pursuing Zhao Jun, they exposed their backs to Li Lanfeng and he shot at them without any hesitation. Half of the remaining assassins were killed.
Zhao Jun came out from his hiding place. With Li Lanfeng's help, they managed to kill off the last few assassins.
After confirming that there was no other assassins around them, Zhao Jun guarded Li Lanfeng as he shot the assassins again to make sure that they were dead.
They managed to kill 14 assassins. If Qi Long and Li Yingjie didn't managed to kill anyone, there were 19 assassins left in the building.
The two people cleaned up the scene. They nodded at each other and started searching on the third floor.
Li Yingjie was the last person to come down from the roof. The moment he reached the fifth floor, he felt a movement. He quickly hid himself in a corner.
Very soon, he saw two assassins in black walking over. One was in front while the other was behind him.
Li Yingjie came out of the corner and punched the first assassin in his chest. The assassin flew back. He dashed to the next assassin and was ready to punch him too.
"Shit!" Li Yingjie suddenly felt a sense of danger. He quickly dodged to the side. Just as he was going to be hit on his shoulder. A beam shield appeared behind Li Yingjie.
Li Yingjie knocked the second assassin out. After that, he pushed against the ground and rushed towards the direction where he felt the danger came from.
In an instant, Li Yingjie saw the third assassin who was hiding behind a pillar. He looked at Li Yingjie fearfully. He raised the beam gun shakily and tried to kill him.
Li Yingjie didn't give him a chance to fire a second shot. His fist knocked into the assassin's chest. The assassin spit blood out of his mouth and flew several meters back. He slammed on the wall, forming cracks and slowly slid to the ground.
After hitting the third person, he rushed towards the assassin and slapped the assassin's head forcefully. The assassin's skull cracked under the force of his palm. After that, Li Yingjie went to finish off the two assassins that were unconscious. He heaved a sigh of relief after confirming that all three assassins were dead.
He turned off his beam shield. He was frustrated. He didn't expect someone to be hiding behind him. The third assassin had been hiding there for a long time so Li Yingjie didn't hear any movements.
Truthfully speaking, Li Yingjie was quite rash this time. He should have used the fact that he was in the dark to sneak an attack on the assassins. Due to his mistake, he almost lost his life. Luckily, Lin Zhong-qing gave him this beam shield device before he came down.
The defensive power of this beam shield was very strong. It was easy to use too. He didn't know it could activate automatically. When the device senses a force closing in, it would activate the shield on its own. That was how Li Yingjie managed to block the gunshot and had the chance to find the third person.
"This is such a good equipment." Li Yingjie patted the shield device on his right arm. He was envious. Boss Lan had such impressive defense equipment. Was this the result of having an excellent mechanic?
Li Yingjie started reflecting about himself. Was he wrong to only have mecha operators on his team? A good team required experts in various fields. That was how Boss Lan's team got so powerful, right?
Li Yingjie didn't stop moving as he pondered about this. He continued searching the fifth floor. But this time, he was more careful.
Li Yingjie wanted to go to the fourth floor but decided against it. Lin Zhong-qing was still on the roof. If by any chance there were assassins still hiding in this floor, they would be able to get on the roof once he was gone. There were no hiding spots on the roof. If assassins did climb up to the roof, Lin Zhong-qing would be surrounded. The consequences would be undesirable.
Also, if Lin Zhong-qing needed any help, he could rushed up immediately too.
Li Lanfeng and the other team members were split into four groups. Qi Long was on the second floor. He met the most enemies and was under the most pressure.
However, Qi Long came down to the second floor because he wanted to have a good fight.
Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun were on the third floor. There were many assassins on the second and third floor. As compared to those on the second floor, the assassins on the third floor were far more careful. It was hard to find them. But, this was nothing to Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun. They would always be able to find the assassins before the assasins found them. Many assassins were killed by them.
Li Yingjie remained on the fifth floor and slowly search the area. On the sixth floor, Lin Zhong-qing continued to observe the surroundings.
Qi Long was currently fighting with three assassins. Suddenly, his expression changed. He released all of his strength and killed the three assassins instantly. Then, he jumped out of the window and climbed up to the roof.
Li Lanfeng and Zhao Jun ran up to the roof after subduing their opponents too.
None of them were as fast as Li Yingjie. When Li Yingjie was searching the fifth floor, he felt movements on the roof. He leapt out of the window and climbed up the roof without any hesitation.
He saw three assassins in black surrounding Lin Zhong-qing. All of them were pointing their guns at him.
Li Yingjie knew that Lin Zhong-qing was in danger. He might be able to dodge one person's shot but not three. One of the assassins was standing at Lin Zhong-qing's blindspot. There was no way Lin Zhong-qing could come out unharmed.
"Don't move, if you do, we will kill him," One of the assassins warned them.
Li Lanfeng, Zhao Jun, and Qi Long had came up too. None of them dared to move.
The three of them looked at Lin Zhong-qing. Lin Zhong-qing remained calmed. He explained, "They came from the building not far away from here. There were 12 of them. I killed nine. Three of them managed to come over."
"Five versus three. There is no way you all will win. Put down your weapons and we will not attack." Li Lanfeng lowered his gun.
One of the assassins sneered. "If that is the case, why are you still holding your weapons?"
Li Lanfeng looked at Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun shrugged and put down his gun.
Qi Long didn't have a gun. He liked close combats. His mecha was a close-combat mecha too. He was influenced by his boss.
Li Yingjie gritted his teeth and put down his gun.
"No, no. I didn't mean putting down your weapons. Throw your guns on the floor." The assassins from the Soul Society were not satisfied.
Before Li Lanfeng could reply, Lin Zhong-qing said, "That is impossible."
Everyone focused their attention on Lin Zhong-qing. One of the assassins moved his finger that was on the trigger. "Are you not afraid of us."
If Lin Zhong-qing replied with a yes, all three of them would shoot at him! Li Yingjie panicked. His forehead was filled with drops of cold sweat.
F**k, can't this brat control himself? Why is he so impatient today? When he provoked him in the past, Lin Zhong-qing would just ignore him. So why can't he do that now? If he provokes the other party, he will die. Even if they killed the assassins to take revenge for him, he will still be dead. Then, what is the point?
As Li Yingjie was complaining to himself, Lin Zhong-qing smiled coldly. "You want to kill me? You all must suffer the consequences."
A thin tube appeared in Lin Zhong-qing's hand. The assassins from the Soul Society were experienced so they recognized it. They were shocked. "TNT."
"Yes. If I throw this thing out, you all will die no matter how powerful you are," Lin Zhong-qing said coldly.
One of the assassins sneered. "Are you not afraid that your friends would get implicated?" They didn't believe that he would throw it out.
Lin Zhong-qing shouted in anger and hatred, "Do you think that I wanted to join them? They forced me! You all thought that they took me as their comrade? No! I am just their bomb courier. They force me to carry this dangerous bomb. They knew that it would explode if there are any strong vibration but they still forced me to carry it…"
Li Yingjie looked at Qi Long astounded. He wasn't sure if Lin Zhong-qing was speaking the truth.
Li Lanfeng glared at him. "It is your honor to be our bomb courier. You have no other abilities at all. Our team do not keep useless people. Also, we made the necessary precautions before letting you carry the TNT. It will not explode so easily. Don't think too much about it."
"Think too much?" Lin Zhong-qing turned crazy when he heard this. "You all thnk that I am stupid? How did the last bomb courier die? I live with a fear of death every single day. I am going crazy. I don't want to live this kind of life anymore…"
"Let's die together!" Lin Zhong-qing laughed like a lunatic. Then, he threw the TNT out.
"Dodge!" Qi Long jumped down the roof in shock.
The other three assassins saw Qi Long jumping down and jumped down too.
Zhao Jun and Li Lanfeng each followed behind an assassin.
Li Yingjie, on the other hand, rushed towards Lin Zhong-qing and pushed him to the ground. He protected him in his arms.
"Hey, you are really heavy. Get up." Lin Zhong-qing poked Li Yingjie helplessly.
Li Yingjie looked at Lin Zhong-qing with a puzzled expression. Where did the crazy expression go? Why were they still alive? Huh? He didn't feel any pain at all. There was no sound of an explosion either.
Lin Zhong-qing noticed that Li Yingjie was still in a daze so he pushed Li Yingjie up.
Lin Zhong-qing didn't expect Li Yingjie to save him. He was caught off his guard and lost the chance to chase after the three assassins. Lin Zhong-qing felt that it was a pity.
He didn't consider Li Yingjie when he was planning his scheme…
Li Yingjie was still in a daze as he watched Lin Zhong-qing stood up and patted the dust off his clothes. Then, he walked towards the TNT and bent down.
"Don't touch it. That is TNT," Li Yingjie shouted.
Lin Zhong-qing glanced at Li Yingjie coldly. He seemed indifferent. He continued his action and picked up the TNT. Then, he placed it back into the transparent box and put it in his backpack.
Li Yingjie calmed down when he saw Lin Zhong-qing's expression. He was not stupid. "It is a fake?"
Chapter 634 - Problem?
Lin Zhong-qing looked at Li Yingjie with contempt. "Of course, do you think that TNT is a common product? Do you think that I can sneak two TNTs onto the Feiyang Ship? Getting one already requires a lot of effort."
"So you lied to me from the start?" Li Yingjie looked at Lin Zhong-qing angrily. He was his teammate. How could Lin Zhong-qing be so evil? He didn't even blinked when he fooled him. Li Yingjie was sad. His pure and innocent heart got stabbed in the back.
Lin Zhong-qing looked at Li Yingjie curiously. "Boss said that in order to fool our enemy, we must fool our own men first."
Li Yingjie was fooled because he was stupid. Look at Qi Long, Li Lanfeng, and Zhao Jun. They immediately knew what he wanted to do the moment he opened his mouth. Their replies were on point too. They managed to fool the assassins.
However, Li Yingjie joined them recently so it was understandable that he didn't understand them well. Lin Zhong-qing still felt unfortunate that he was unable to kill those three assassins personally.
Li Yingjie's eyes widened. He didn't expect the Lingtian Battle Team to be like this. Was this still a battle team? Why were the team members lying to each other? Joining Lingtian Battle Team felt like boarding a pirate's ship. Was it still possible for him to leave Lingtian Battle Team?
While Lin Zhong-qing and Li Yingjie were talking, Qi Long, Zhao Jun, and Li Yingjie had returned to the roof.
Lin Zhong-qing looked at them. Qi Long smiled and gave him an OK sign. Lin Zhong-qing knew that those three assassins were killed.
Li Yingjie felt depressed. He lost again. Ever since he entered Lingtian, he was constantly depressed.
Lin Zhong-qing said, "The assassins in the building…." After the third batch of assassins came, no one else followed.
Li Yingjie wanted to prove himself to them so he quickly replied, "Let me handle it." He disappeared from the roof.
Zhao Jun looked at Li Lanfeng who was smiling. Then, he glanced at Qi Long who was stretching his back. He turned to Lin Zhong-qing and realized he looked indifferent. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "Was that okay?"
Li Lanfeng replied, "What was not okay about it?"
Zhao Jun looked at the other two people. He said with a helpless tone, "Boss is here. He would not be of much help even if he went down." He didn't believe that they all didn't realize this.
Lin Zhong-qing replied nonchalantly, "He will learn to listen properly till the end of sentences and not be too impulsive."
Lin Zhong-qing didn't expect Li Yingjie to 'save' him just now. What that happened that year caused Lin Zhong-qing to hate Li Yingjie. However, after Li Yingjie joined Lingtian, he realized that Li Yingjie was not as irritating as he thought. He was just impulsive, a little difficult to talk to, and quite arrogant. Lin Zhong-qing just hoped that Li Yingjie wouldn't bring trouble for the Lingtian Battle Team. In actual fact, he purposely stopped halfway while speaking to fool Li Yingjie.
As they were speaking, a figure appeared in front of them. It was Ling Lan.
Ling Lan didn't say anything. She just looked at the staircase.
Li Yingjie rushed out of the staircase. He looked pitifully at Qi Long and the rest of his teammates. Not long after he went down, he heard Boss Lan's voice. He knew that he was fooled by Lin Zhong-qing again.
"Not bad." Ling Lan nodded at Lin Zhong-qing. She arrived when Lin Zhong-qing was surrounded. However, she believed that Lin Zhong-qing could get out of the situation himself so she just watched at the side. Reality proved that she was right. Also… Ling Lan looked at Li Yingjie. She now had a different impression of this temporary team member.
Just as Ling Lan was about to continue speaking, a huge explosion occurred to one of the buildings far away. The entire building collapsed.
The assassins from Soul Society immediately retreated when they saw this. The other three battle teams were relieved.
The rainbow rain stopped soon after. When multiple rainbows appeared in the sky, Ling Lan finally understood why this rain was called rainbow rain. Although the colorful lights during the rain was beautiful, this scene after the rain was even more spectacular. Ling Lan felt that her soul was being cleansed. She felt invigorated.
This was why many people liked to explore the universe, right? They could see sceneries which they couldn't see on their own planet. Ling Lan looked forward to the rest of the trip.
Everyone arrived on the Feiyang Ship safely. The tour guide waited at the boarding gate anxiously. When he saw the six people, he felt relieved. He hurriedly rushed towards them and asked with concern, "Are you all fine?"
Li Lanfeng gave a look of uncertainty and anxiousness. "We heard a huge explosion and then saw many policemen from Planet Kachi running over. We managed to return here due to their guidance. Tour Guide Zhou, what happened just now? Where did that huge explosion come from? Will we be in danger?"
Tour Guide Zhou consoled them, "You all are fine now. I was worried that you all went to the old city area…"
Li Lanfeng gasped in shock. "Oh my god, we wanted to go to the old city. However, we took a longer time to look around the new city so we didn't manage to go." He looked frightened. "Lucky for us."
Tour Guide Zhou felt fortunate for them. "Yes, it was lucky that you all didn't go there." He asked in a seemingly casual tone, "Did you all went shopping when you were in the new city?" He glanced at their backpacks. It looked the same as before.
"How could we be able to do any shopping?" Li Lanfeng seemed embarrassed. They saved up for a long time to get on this cruise. They didn't have the extra money to buy souvenirs. Li Lanfeng noticed that Li Yingjie was not looking at him so he whispered to the tour guide, "Young Master Ma didn't want to visit the old city so we accompanied him in the new city." He looked at Li Yingjie gratefully. "We managed to escape the crisis because of him."
Tour Guide Zhou pouted. Even if they went to the old city, they would be fine as long as they weren't at the place where the commotion happened. However, did they really not go to the old city?
Li Yingjie seemed unhappy. He wasn't in the mood to talk to the tour guide so he said, "If we need to walk, don't find me." Then, he left them and boarded the Feiyang Ship.
Lin Zhong-qing bowed to the tour guide apologetically and followed Li Yingjie. After interacting with these six people, Tour Guide Zhou knew that the timid and quiet young man had the lowest position among all of them. He was the servant of Young Master Ma Rao.
However, Li Yingjie's statement explained why they didn't go to the old city. Only the new city had roads for hover cars. They would be able to rent some hover cars easily to bring them around. On the other hand, the old city had been abandoned for a long time and all the roads were forsaken. No hover cars were willing to go there. If people from Planet Kachi wanted to visit the old city, they would prepare their own jet-rollers. The passengers on the cruise didn't have such things. Wealthy people could buy jet-rollers in the new city but poor ones would just have to rely on their legs.
Among the six young men, only Li Yingjie had a wealthy identity. The rest were all commoners so they wouldn't have the money to buy jet-rollers. A jet-roller was expensive. It cost around half the price of a cruise. Getting a new jet-roller was too expensive for a commoner. Normally, they would buy second-hand jet-rollers.
Li Lanfeng continued chatting with the tour guide until the tour guide got irritated and left. Li Lanfeng pretended to leave hesitantly.
When they returned to their room, Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing were already in the room. However, contrary to what the tour guide thought, Li Yingjie was the one who was helping Lin Zhong-qing.
Lin Zhong-qing was tidying up their items while Li Yingjie stood beside him and listened to his orders…
After the rest had entered the room, Li Yingjie listened to the surroundings before asking, "Is there something wrong with the tour guide?"
Li Lanfeng stretched his body. He said casually, "Maybe."
Li Yingjie looked at him with contempt. "Who are you trying to fool? If he doesn't have a problem, why did you talk to him for so long?" Li Lanfeng would not waste his time on a tour guide if he was just an ordinary person.
Li Lanfeng smiled but didn't reply.
Li Yingjie didn't need a reply from him either. He continued, "He showed too much concern for us. Compared to the other members of the tour group, our survival rate is quite high."
Qi Long nodded. "Yes. Also, we never said that we wanted to go to the old city."
"We will take on whatever that comes." Ling Lan ended the topic.
The Feiyang Ship didn't leave Planet Kachi on that day. Some passengers didn't manage to return to the Feiyang Ship within the designated time so the staff members of the Feiyang Ship had to file a police report. The police helped to look for these missing passengers. However, the itenary of the Feiyang Ship had already been planned out so if the passengers were still not found after one day, the Feiyang Ship had no choice but to leave. The missing passengers' list would be sent to the Federation.
Some past passengers were missing but the number of passengers on the Feiyang Ship increased instead. The explosion was classified as a terrorist attack so a lot of tourists felt that it was unsafe to stay on Planet Kachi. They bought tickets for the Feiyang Ship so that they could leave this planet. This was why Feiyang Ship was almost full when it left.
The first night after they left Planet Kachi, Ling Lan looked for Little Four. "Little Four, what happened in the end?"
"Just recently, the people from Soul Society found an unconscious and heavily injured Xia Qingyi among the ruins. He had been buried for two days. His life is still in danger." Little Four had been monitoring the happenings on Planet Kachi.
"Xia Qingyi…" Ling Lan was on her guard. She didn't expect him to treat himself so harshly. This was the most effective way of getting rid of his own suspicion. This showed that he was a firm person. It would not be easy to deal with him.
"His injury minimized his suspicion and also allowed him to be cleared of the responsibilities for this mission. What a good scheme." Ling Lan immediately guessed what Xia Qingyi's intention was.
As long as he stopped handling the mission of killing the princess, he would not know any more information about this mission. That way, Ling Lan would not be able to get any information from him and would stop asking him. If she stopped asking him, he would have a lower risk of getting exposed.
Without a doubt, Xia Qingyi used much effort to think of this scheme. However, he didn't guess Ling Lan's motive correctly. She didn't let him go in order to acquire more information about the mission to kill the princess. She wanted to plant a seed for the future… if she didn't have the ability to fulfil her plan, Xia Qingyi would never be activated…
The failure of the Soul Society gave a warning to the other factions that wanted to kill the princess. They knew that the people protecting the princess were not as weak as they thought. However, Soul Society would never leak any information they had out so the factions didn't know that there was a domain realm master within the protectors.
Since they couldn't ensure that their plans would succeed, no one acted in the following week. It was a smooth journey.
Ling Lan and the other people who were protecting the princess remained vigilant. Even though the week passed safely, they felt even more tense. The next stop was a country which claimed to be neutral but in actual fact was on their enemy's side.
The six captains all felt that this was the most dangerous stop. If there were assassins, this was the country where they would plan their assassination.
Aoqi was the smallest country in the human world. It only had one planet. It was located between the crossroads of three strong countries who guarded against each other. Hence, it managed to remain as an independent country.
The three countries around Aoqi were enemies of each other. This caused Aoqi to become a demilitarized zone which resulted in its neutral status.
Chapter 635 - Help!
Since the three countries guarded against each other, Aoqi became the only place where trading between the three countries occured. This made Aoqi a shopping heaven. Merchants from all over the galaxy came to Aoqi to do business.
From afar, Aoqi looked like a yellow ball. The planet was surrounded by vibrant colored plants so it seemed extra striking. People wanted to visit the planet because of its vibrant colors. This might be part of the reason why it was so prosperous.
The Feiyang Ship landed on the spaceport of Aoqi slowly. Since many merchant ships came to Aoqi, Aoqi's spaceport was extremely huge. When the Feiyang Ship ship was landing, many merchant ships came and went.
"This is a huge spaceport. The facilities here could be compared with our first-string military spaceport." Zhao Jun went for many missions before so he could compare this spaceport with the other ones.
"That is how wealthy this planet is. It has no military power so it definitely has some strong countries backing it up. If not, it will not be able to build such a huge spaceport," Qi Long pouted as he said that. Anyone who was not stupid would be able to see this.
"Of course. Everyone knew it but no one exposed them. Aoqi belongs to Caesar. The leaders of other countries knew this. However, since Aoqi didn't announce that they were on Caesar's side, they can only pretend to not know about it," Ling Lan said calmly.
"We have reached planet Aoqi. The Feiyang Ship will stop for three days here. We will leave planet Aoqi at 7 pm on the 19th. All passengers please take note. Please return on time." The gentle and sweet voice of JMC rang throughout the entire ship. Everyone heard this announcement.
Everyone started packing up. Most of them travelled light. Only those who wanted to do business in Aoqi carried many things with them.
Ling Lan and her friends left most of their luggage on the Feiyang Ship. They didn't have much to begin with. They got off the ship with a backpack each.
As they walked through the atrium, the aunties from the Shun Feng Tour Group waved at them enthusiastically. The six of them smiled and walked over.
Lu Chaoying treated Li Yingjie like her family. She grabbed Li Yingjie's hand and asked him with concern, "Ma Rao, where are you planning to go?"
Li Yingjie resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He replied patiently, "We are just going to look around. If we see anything interesting, we will buy them as souvenirs for our families."
Lu Chaoying nodded. "You are a filial child. You even thought about getting souvenirs for your family." She looked proud as if Li Yingjie was her child.
Many aunties agreed with what Lu Chaoying said. They started complaining about how unfilial their own children were, further proving that the statement 'other people's children were the best' was correct.
Because of the age difference, Li Yingjie and his friends went to the modern technology market while Lu Chaoying and the aunties went to the antique market.
Aoqi was where collectors came to look for antiques. Because of this, Aoqi had a major antique auction every month. It attracted many elite families, rich corporations, and formidable warriors.
Ling Lan arrived at a bad time. The antique auction for this month ended just a few days ago. If they wanted to take a look at the auction, they would have to wait for one more month. However, this had nothing to with with Ling Lan and her friends. They were commoners. Even if they arrived when the auction was happening, they would be barred from the venue.
Everyone's motive was different so Ling Lan and her friends waved goodbye to their tour group members and planned their own schedules. Tour Guide Zhou was worried about them. He reminded them to contact him if they needed anything and repeated the boarding time for the ship.
The aunties were unwilling to part with them but they knew that young people had their own plans. Hence, they didn't force them to stay. At that moment, another bunch of people appeared in the atrium.
"Princess Gulibaduo, what a coincidence. We meet again." Yun Feiyang smiled at the princess while looking at her intently. He was clearly expressing his love for her.
"To get off the ship, everyone needs to walk through this atrium. If this is a coincidence, it is a coincidence for everyone on the ship." A clear voice replied Yun Feiyang. The direct reply caught Ling Lan and her friends' attention.
Ling Lan and her friends didn't look over. They just continued eavesdropping on the conversation. Based on their fake abilities, they were unable to hear the conversation between Yun Feiyang and the princess.
Only Ling Lan was able to see what was happening with the help of Little Four. This was the first time Ling Lan and her friends saw the princess clearly. Although they saw the princess in the atrium when they were being captured, there was a huge distance between them so they couldn't see the princess properly.
After that, Ling Lan tried her best to not appear in front of the princess. That way, the factions that were observing the princess would not notice them. Also, based on their current status, it was almost impossible for them to meet the princess.
Princess Gulibaduo was not the typical long-hair, elegant, and beautiful princess. She had her hair cut till her ears and looked handsome and clean. She was in her casual clothes.
However, it was hard to mistake her for a man. The female presence that she exuded was obvious.
Princess Gulibaduo was a straightforward person. That was why she was able to say such things to Yun Feiyang.
Yun Feiyang was nurtured by the Yun family so he didn't get angry when met with such cold reactions. He smiled and replied, "You are right. However, we arrived in this atrium at around the same time. This means that we are more fated as compared to the other people on the ship."
That is so… shameless! Ling Lan was amazed. How can he say such things with a straight face? Ling Lan wondered if her father said such cringy things to her mother when he chased her in the past.
Thinking about how unscrupulous her father could get, Ling Lan felt that it was highly possible. She then looked at Li Lanfeng. She remembered that Li Lanfeng was a teenager who had reached the age of being interested in women…
Li Lanfeng had a calm expression on his face. When he saw Ling Lan looking at him, he immediately looked back. He wondered what orders his boss had for him.
Ling Lan realized that her friends were not surprised by what Yun Feiyang said. She was stunned. Maybe it was because she was a female so she couldn't understand what the men of this era were thinking. She kept her questions to herself and decided to ask when there was a chance.
Princess Gulibaduo sneered. She didn't reply Yun Feiyang. Ling Lan could clearly see the unhappiness on her face. However, the princess didn't seem good at talking. Yun Feiyang kept pestering her but all she could do was to ignore him.
It was because Yun Feiyang was Princess Gulibaduo's life savior. She couldn't treat him too coldly. If not, people would think that she was a heartless and ungrateful person.
The fight for the throne in the Balaya Kingdom was intense. Any small actions could cause her to lose her right to the throne. This was another reason why Princess Gulibaduo couldn't do anything to Yun Feiyang.
The princess had to maintain her dignity. The people from the Whirlwind Battle Team and the Brave Warriors Battle Team would not speak up for her. Her real butler and servants didn't dare to go against Yun Feiyang due to his identity. Thus, Yun Feiyang was able to pester the princess repetitively and make her irritated.
The princess scanned her surroundings. There were many people in the atrium. The princess saw Ling Lan and her friends. She was stunned for a moment. Then, she smiled and walked towards them.
Ling Lan's heart dropped. The smile on her face just now told her that something bad was about to happen.
Before the princess could walk near them, Ling Lan turned her head nonchalantly and looked at the princess. She took the chance to knock into Li Lanfeng's shoulder. "Do you think that she is here to look for Young Master Ma Rao?"
Li Lanfeng turned his head too. He saw the princess and shouted at Li Yingjie, "Ma Rao, a pretty lady is looking for you."
Li Yingjie pointed at himself with a surprised look. "Looking for me? Really? Are you lying to me?" He sized up the princess as if he was deciding if the princess had the right to come near him…
Qi Long rolled his eyes when he saw this. He seemed unconvinced. "Why don't women look for me? Why do they all like Ma Rao?"
The princess heard what they said and stopped in her tracks. She blinked for a moment. After that, she continued walking towards Ling Lan and her friends. She said politely, "Hello, I am Gulibaduo. Can I ask for your help?"
"Ah, so you are not looking for me?" Li Yingjie said with a disappointed face.
Qi Long was feeling schadenfreude. He laughed and said, "Ma Rao, not every woman likes you."
Li Yingjie snorted. He decided to ignore the irritating Qi Long and went to talk to Lin Zhong-qing. He ignored Gulibaduo too.
Gulibaduo was not angry. Instead, she smiled embarrassingly and pointed behind her. She whispered, "This person keeps pestering me. I can't chase him away so I would like to ask for your help."
"How can we help you?" Zhao Jun looked at the direction she pointed at and saw Yun Feiyang. He nodded. "I know him. I met him outside room 308 quite a few times."
Gulibaduo looked helpless. "I live in room 308."
"Wow, is he chasing you?" Zhao Jun looked at Yun Feiyang again. "He is quite handsome. Why don't you like him?"
Gulibaduo gave a look of disdain. "He is so weak. He can't even win against me. What is so good about him?"
Zhao Jun glanced at Gulibaduo. He muttered to himself. "Even a lady reached the peak of refinement. Sigh, what am I supposed to do?"
Gulibaduo glared at him angrily when she heard what he said. "Are you all males? Why are you all so indecisive? Are you going to help me or not?"
Everyone looked at Li Yingjie. Li Yingjie was supposed to be the strongest and wealthiest among them. He was their leader.
Li Yingjie had been a leader for many years but he never thought that he would be able to lead the five people that were around him now.
Besides feeling excited, Li Yingjie was frightened. Sob, if he made the wrong decision, would he get hit by his boss?
Li Yingjie took a deep breath. He pretended to be impatient and asked, "How do you want us to help?" Is this the right thing to say? Li Yingjie looked at Ling Lan carefully. His expression was arrogant and made people want to hit him.
Gulibaduo was angered by his attitude. She breathed a few times to calm down and replied, "I just want to walk around with you all."
"No!"
Ling Lan and her friends as well as the people who came with Princess Gulibaduo shouted at the same time.
Gulibaduo looked at her fake butler who was actually the captain of the Brave Warriors Battle Team, Lieutenant Colonel Qian Jialin. She didn't know why he stopped her. These six people seemed harmless.
Qian Jialin said seriously, "Princess, please do not interact with outsiders."
Li Yingjie sneered. "Yes, we are outsiders. Please stay further away from us."
Qian Jialin felt awkward. Yun Feiyang heard what Li Yingjie said and replied in a cold voice, "Since you all know that you are outsiders, why don't you all move away from the princess?"
Li Yingjie was furious. He wanted to refute him but Lin Zhong-qing grabbed his sleeve hurriedly and shook his head. Li Yingjie swallowed his anger. He glared at Yun Feiyang and then said to the rest of the team, "Let's go!"
Chapter 636 - Deal!
"No, I want to go with them!" Gulibaduo grabbed Li Yingjie's hand. Li Yingjie wanted to dodge but his body suddenly went numb. In that instant, Gulibaduo caught him.
Li Yingjie glared at Gulibaduo. He wanted to push her away. "Why are you grabbing my hand?"
"Hmph, I want you to help me!" Gulibaduo turned fierce. She was a princess that was raised to take over the throne. If she needed to be vicious, she would. "If you all don't help me, you all can forget about having fun." She suddenly gave an order, "Surround them!"
Senior Colonel Mu Youyun smiled bitterly. He had no choice but to surround Ling Lan and her friends. He didn't know why the princess was so interested in these six people. However, it was better to choose Ling Lan compared to choose someone unfamiliar.
Li Yingjie pointed at the princess indignantly. "You are unreasonable."
Gulibaduo raised her chin arrogantly. "Are you going to help me?"
Li Yingjie wanted to say something but Qi Long and Lin Zhong-qing stopped him. They dragged Li Yingjie back and the six of them had a small discussion. In the end, Li Yingjie said unwillingly, "You can follow us. However, you must promise that you will listen to us. If not, you can leave."
Gulibaduo smiled with satisfaction. "Deal!" She pointed at Li Yingjie and asked, "Oh right, what is your name?"
Li Yingjie got furious again. "You don't even know who I am? Why did you want to follow us then? You are so troublesome. My name is Ma Rao. Don't forget it. Also, please call Young Master Ma!"
Li Yingjie didn't care whether Gulibaduo was a princess or not. He portrayed his character very well. He was a young, slightly wealthy, but inexperienced young master from the countryside.
"I know it now. Your name is Ma Rao," Gulibaduo didn't care about his poor attitude and replied to him calmly. Li Yingjie gritted his teeth in anger.
"Hello, erm, you can call me An Jieming. Nice to meet you." Qi Long smiled as he introduced himself. As compared to Li Yingjie, his attitude was much better.
"Hello!" Gulibaduo smiled at Qi Long brightly. Gulibaduo liked this humble young man.
"I am Lu Liyi." Li Lanfeng nodded at Gulibaduo with a smile.
"Qin Feng!" Zhao Jun waved his hand.
"Hello, my name is He Anya." Ling Lan smiled at Gulibaduo. Gulibaduo's eyes lit up. She was surprised.
She didn't expect this young man, who had been hiding behind Zhao Jun, to be so cute and innocent. He looked as pure as an infant. When she saw him, her mood instantly got better. She wanted to collect his smile to invigorate her.
Li Lanfeng felt Gulibaduo's gaze and tilted his body slightly to block Ling Lan. Gulibaduo regained her senses quickly. She smiled shyly and turned to look at Lin Zhong-qing who was standing beside Li Yingjie with a timid look.
Lin Zhong-qing raised his head when he felt the princess looking at him. He says in a soft voice, "My name is He Lin. Nice to meet you." Before Gulibaduo could reply to him, he lowered his head again. Gulibaduo saw his ears turning red. This young man was timid and shy…
This guy must be his lackey, right?
Yun Feiyang was unhappy when he saw that the princess didn't want to follow him. She would rather follow a few commoners. However, he still kept his manners and bid farewell to the princess before leaving with his men.
Ling Lan looked at Yun Feiyang. She knew that Yun Feiyang would not give up on his target this easy. They would definitely meet him again during these three days. Ling Lan hoped that Yun Feiyang just wanted to pursue the princess and not kill her. If not, the protectors of the princess would have a hard time.
"Where are you planning to go?" Princess Gulibaduo asked curiously.
Li Yingjie sneered. "We are planning to go to places which are suitable for commoners like us. If you think that it is not suitable for your status, you can still leave."
Gulibaduo was excited. "Sure, I have never gone to a commoner's shop before. I can finally visit them." Li Yingjie was puzzled at how happy she was. What was so exciting about a commoner's shop? If he was not on a mission, he would never visit those shops.
Li Yingjie was used to using products of the best quality. He didn't like things used by commoners. He glanced at Ling Lan. He didn't know about the other people but Ling Lan had a high status. Could he bear to use such low quality items?
Li Yingjie didn't know that in her first life, Ling Lan was just a commoner.
Li Yingjie knew that Ling Lan had made a move when they were in the atrium of the ship. That was why his body went numb. Thus, he agreed to let Gulibaduo follow them.
The six people trip became a trip with a whole group of people. The arrival of these high-class people caused an uproar among the shops. Li Yingjie was furious. He asked Gulibaduo to make a decision. Either she shopped by herself with her bodyguards, or let her bodyguards stayed further away.
The princess instantly chose to let her bodyguards stayed further away. She wanted to walk around the place with Li Yingjie and his friends. The bodyguards and servants had no choice but to follow them from afar. The princess laughed happily. She felt like a bird that finally managed to regain freedom.
"Are you sure that those six people are harmless?" In a room, a person held a small device in his hand. His eyes were closed. He was the second son-in-law of the Yun family, Luo Chengwen. He was contacting the hackers of the Yun family and ascertaining the data of Ling Lan and her friends.
"Yes, they are just ordinary students from He Ping Academy. They planned to have a graduation trip at the end of their school year." Very soon, the hackers sent over the fake identities of Ling Lan and her friends.
Luo Chengwen hung up only after receiving the information. He opened his eyes slowly. An agitated Yun Feiyang came into his vision.
"Besides Ma Rao, the rest of them are only at manifestation. They are of no threat." Luo Chengwen passed the information to Yun Feiyang. Actually, besides asking the hackers from the Yun family to check their identities, Luo Chengwen personally went to He Ping Academy's mainframe and flipped through their documents. He even went to look at the information about their parents as well as their records in their scout academy. They were clean.
Luo Chengwen believed that even an ace hacker would not be able to design such a perfect disguise. Hence, the data of these six people must be true. Only real data had no loopholes.
Luo Chengwen didn't know that one of the six people had an ultimate hacker as her subordinate, Little Four. When Luo Chengwen hacked into the mainframe of He Ping Academy, Little Four's replica noticed him. Thus, all the information that he saw was what Little Four wanted him to see. Luo Chengwen was wrong when he said that only real data had no loopholes. The god of the virtual world could do it too. Little Four was the god of the virtual world.
Yun Feiyang looked at the identities of those six people. One of them was a wealthy person who came from the countryside. He couldn't be compared with him. After all, he was a member of an elite family. He slammed the documents on the table and said angrily, "How dare those bastards try to interfere in this matter. They are looking for death."
Luo Chengwen replied calmly, "Don't be rash. We might not need the princess' help. Let's wait and see if the princess survives these three days."
Yun Feiyang was shocked. "Will something happen to the princess? No way. I need to protect her."
"Come back!" Luo Chengwen shouted, "Did you really fall in love with the princess?"
Yun Feiyang stopped in his tracks. He said in a low voice, "Since you ask me to pursue the princess, why can't I fall in love with her?"
"You should shun away from relationships if you want to achieve great success," Luo Chengwen said seriously.
"What about you? When you pursued my second aunt last time, did you not love her? Were you just trying to make use of her?" Yun Feiyang turned around and shouted in anger.
Luo Chengwen's expression changed. He took a while before he replied, "I love your second aunt and that is why I am being restricted by the Yun family. If I didn't fall in love with your aunt, I will not… will not…"
Yun Feiyang's heart became softer when he heard what Luo Chengwen said. "Uncle, I know what sacrifices you made for my second aunt. You became the hacker of the Yun family and even helped us nurtured a group of hackers. You allowed our status in the business world to rise. We have the chance of moving up from a small-sized family into a middle-sized family. This is the dream of everyone in the Yun family."
Yun Feiyang's eyes were shining with ambition. "Now, we are very close to achieving our dream. As long as I get Gulibaduo's heart and marry her, as long as Gulibaduo gained a portion of the power to rule the Balaya Kingdom, we can make use of this power and become a middle-sized family. No, we might even become a big-sized family."
Luo Chengwen looked down. He hid the contempt in his eyes. "I also hope that the Yun family would rise too. Ai'Ya would be happy. That is why I am willing to help you all."
"However, I know what a man is willing to sacrifice for the woman he loves. I am an example. I can't let you be in the same situation as me." When Luo Chengwen looked up again, his eyes were sincere. He was bound by love. He didn't want Yun Feiyang to go through the same thing.
"Uncle, Gulibaduo is a smart person. She could feel whether I am sincere or not. If I don't actually love her, I will never be able to get her heart." Yun Feiyang lowered his head. He knew what he wanted. Everyone was unique. He was not Luo Chengwen. He loved the princess but he would not give up his ambition for her.
He had gathered information about Gulibaduo and knew that she didn't have many friends. However, all her friends treated her sincerely. This caused Yun Feiyang to suspect that Gulibaduo had an innate talent which allowed her to spot out who was sincere and who was not. This was why he allowed himself to fall in love with her. That was the only way he could win her over.
Luo Chengwen seemed convinced. "As long as you know what you are doing, everything will be fine. Just don't go down the same path as me." He had thrown away all his ambitions for the sake of love.
Yun Feiyang nodded. He left the room with his men. He needed to stay beside the princess these three days and protect her.
Yun Feiyang was clear that the princess was his best shortcut. It was hard to find another person as good as the princess. He might not even be able to get close even if he found someone better. Also, he was the princess' life savior. He couldn't give up just like this. He had fallen in love with the princess so whether it was personal or for business, he could not let her die.
The first day passed peacefully. Ling Lan and her friends were dragged to a nine-star hotel. They were excited and scared.
As expected of a nine-star hotel, it was very comfortable. While they were staying at the hotel, they created many laughable moments. As a wealthy young master from the country, Li Yingjie had stayed in five-star and six-star hotels before. He also saw photos of seven-star and eight-star hotels to satisfy his fantasy. However, nine-stars… even Li Yingjie couldn't handle this kind of wealth.
The six people had a great time in the hotel. They had a wonderful night of sleep and felt energetic the next morning. Li Yingjie told them that he would ask his father to earn more money so that he could stay in a nine-star hotel all the time. Ling Lan and the rest of them scolded him and said that he was living off his parents.
The six of them packed up and wanted to continue shopping. However, Gulibaduo stopped them. Gulibaduo received an order from her father, who was the king of the Balaya Kingdom. She needed to attend an underground auction held at 1 pm today and get the Babu scepter back. The Babu scepter represented the right to rule the Balaya Kingdom. It had been missing for four centuries.
Chapter 637 - Going Too Far!
The Babu scepter was first used by the founder of Balaya Kingdom, King Babu. It represented the highest authority of the Balaya Kingdom. However, 400 years ago, this scepter was stolen and disappeared without a trace. The Balaya Kingdom had been searching for it for 400 years and finally found that it was at the auction.
However, they received the news too late. It was impossible for them to rush to Aoqi on time. Luckily, Gulibaduo was in Aoqi at that specific moment. The King of Balaya felt that it was a blessing given to them by King Babu. He immediately contacted Gulibaduo and transferred a huge amount of credits to her. He told Gulibaduo that she must buy the Babu scepter back no matter what.
When Ling Lan heard this news, she knew that their opponents had acted. There would definitely be a trap waiting for them at this underground auction. Ling Lan also knew that Gulibaduo would definitely show up at this auction. If she managed to get back the Babu scepter, her right to inherit the throne would be confirmed. Hence, no matter how dangerous this trip would be, she would still go.
Gulibaduo invited Ling Lan and her friends to come to this underground auction. Ling Lan and her friends thought about it but rejected the offer. There was a limited number of people who could attend an underground auction. If they went, Gulibaduo would not be able to bring in her bodyguards.
Gulibaduo solved their worries. In order to ensure that they could get the Babu scepter back, Balaya Kingdom prepared three invitation cards for Gulibaduo. Each invitation card allowed five people to enter the auction. Gulibaduo gave Ling Lan and her friends one invitation card. She hoped that Ling Lan and her friends would bid for the Babu scepter if by any chance she was prevented from bidding.
The Balaya Kingdom would pay the guarantee and be their insurer. Hence, they did not have to worry that they wouldn't be able to pay the credits.
Ling Lan and her friends were moved. They hesitated for a moment before accepting the invitation.
Gulibaduo gave another invitation card to her bodyguards, Senior Colonel Mu Youyun and the Whirlwind Battle Team. She brought Lieutenant Colonel Qian Jialin and three of his strongest team members with her. She also brought along her trusted personal servant.
Of course, even if they had the invitation card, they would not be able to find and enter the auction without a point of contact. Since she managed to get the invitation cards, Gulibaduo knew where to find the person who would be their point of contact. Very soon, they were taken into an extravagant eight-star hotel by the person of contact.
Because they had stayed in a nine-star hotel, Ling Lan and her friends were a lot calmer when they entered the eight-star hotel. The hotel was located in a prime district. When Ling Lan entered the hotel, she quickly scanned the surroundings. She discovered the Ministry of State Security was diagonally opposite of the hotel.
Ling Lan lowered her eyes. She smiled. Things are indeed very interesting!
The person of contact didn't walk to the main lift in the lobby. Instead, he led them to a secluded passage and walked for quite a distance. The passage was connected to many other passages intertwined together so only someone familiar with the path would be able to find the way in.
After walking for around five minutes, they finally arrived in front of a lift. The person of contact pressed a button and the lift door opened. It was a huge lift. Its size was about 30 square meters. When 19 of them entered the lift, it was not cramped at all. There was still some room between them.
The person of contact didn't press the buttons in the lift. Instead, he took out a metal card and scanned it at the area where the buttons were at.
"Clang!" The lift started operating automatically. It went down. The screen showed that they were at B4. Suddenly, red lights started flickering and the word 'malfunction' appeared on the screen. A loud siren rang in the lift.
The princess' expression changed. However, she controlled herself and looked at the person of contact as he continued his act.
The person of contact pressed the emergency button. A gentle voice rose, "Hello, did the lift malfunction?"
The person of contact replied calmly, "Yes. It can't go down to B47."
"B47? Mister, did you say it wrongly? We only have 39 floors here," The gentle voice reminded him.
"39 floors? Did I remember the wrong floor? Ah, I'm sorry, I want to go to B7."
"I'm sorry. We only have B4."
"B4? Am I wrong again?" The person of contact took out his card and looked at it carefully. He saw the number on the card and said, "I was mistaken about B7. I should be going to B9."
"I'm sorry, we only have B4," The gentle voice reminded him again calmly.
"I don't care. You must send me to a floor with the number 9 on it." The attitude of the person of contact turned bad. "Do you want us to stay in this old lift?"
The other party seemed shocked by the sudden change in attitude. She remained silent for three seconds before replying, "I understand. I will send you to the 9th floor." The lift started operating again. The screen showed that they have reached the 9th floor.
"Boss, the lift is going downwards." Little Four suddenly told Ling Lan. The lifts in this era were very stable. Normal people would not be able to distinguish whether they were going up or down.
"Also, that was not B9. We were at B17." Little Four reported his findings to Ling Lan. The numbers that were shown on the screen were fake. Ever since the person of contact scanned his metal card, all the information shown was fake.
"Ding." The lift door slowly opened.
An entrance laid with gold carpets appeared before them. Two guards in uniform were standing in front of the entrance. They saw the people in the lift and bowed to them. They said politely, "There is a banquet happening in this place. Do you have an invitation card?"
The person of contact smiled and tilted his body. His mission was completed. It was time for him to leave.
The princess took out her invitation card without any hesitation. The guard scanned the card with a device. "Beep." The information stored in the card appeared on his device.
"Honoured guest from the Balaya Kingdom, please enter with your men." The guard smiled and pointed at the passage on his right.
The princess nodded at Ling Lan and Mu Youyun. She entered the place with her personal servant, Qian Jialin, and his men.
Mu Youyun didn't look at Ling Lan and her friends. He seemed as though he didn't recognize them at all. He handed his invitation card over to the bodyguard and left quickly.
Li Yingjie passed the invitation card over. After the inspection, the six of them waited at the side for the staff member to bring them in.
They didn't meet any people along the way. There were no signs of Gulibaduo or Mu Youyun. Ling Lan knew that they were taken to different locations. Although this looked like a normal hallway, it could actually move. When they were waiting at the entrance, the people in front had already been shifted to another area.
Seems like this underground auction put a lot of effort to ensure the safety and security of their location. Little Four told Ling Lan all the secrets of this hallway. He also told her that a similar banquet was being held on the 9th floor of the hotel. Those people that attempted to sneak in were brought there.
Although she was separated from the princess and didn't know where the princess was at, Ling Lan was not agitated as Little Four had located the princess. They were not in the same hallway but they were heading towards the same direction. This meant that they would meet each other in the end.
Around 10 minutes later, Li Yingjie started to look impatient. The staff member finally led them into a booth.
The decorations in the booth were luxurious. There were all kinds of fruits, drinks, and rare wines prepared for them. Besides Li Yingjie who managed to control his emotions, the rest of them turned into country bumpkins. They kept gasping in surprise. Qi Long and Zhao Jun even laid on the expensive sofa and touched all the things in the booth. Then, they started jumping on the sofa.
The staff member seemed to be well-trained and experienced. He maintained the smile on his face calmly. There was no change in his expression at all. In the end, Li Yingjie couldn't stand it anymore and shouted at them to stop. The staff member smiled and started explaining to them the rules of the auction and how it would be operated.
After confirming that the six of them understood the rules, he bowed and left the booth.
He turned a few corners and walked quickly for around three minutes. He entered a corridor. He pressed against the wall of the corridor and knocked three times. Then he knocked another five times followed by another four times. A hole appeared in the wall and the staff member quickly entered it. The wall resumed its original appearance almost immediately after the staff member had entered.
There was a small room within the wall. It was filled with screens. There were humans in certain screens while others were empty. The booth that Ling Lan was in was on the screen too. Without someone scrutinizing them, Zhao Jun and Qi Long took off their shoes and started stepping on the sofa. Li Yingjie and Lin Zhong-qing tried to persuade them to get off the sofa. Lin Zhong-qing was talking softly while Li Yingjie just directly shouted at them.
Li Lanfeng and Ling Lan were looking at the various wines at the corner of the booth. They had an excited look on their faces. They glanced around them and then opened a wine that cost a few thousand credits. They had a taste of it secretly. From the looks of it, they were trying to get the most out of their visit here.
"27, what do you think of these six people?" A 30 years old man in a suit was sitting on the sofa in the middle of the room. He looked a little sinister.
"Brother Xu, it is the same as what was described. A slightly wealthy young master bringing five commoners to see the world." The smile on 27's face had disappeared.
"Why did the princess chose six normal people and even gave them a precious invitation card?" The sinister looking man was puzzled. This was why he asked his subordinate to disguise as a staff member and check on them.
27 thought about the question carefully before replying, "Is the princess trying stay away from the young master from the Yun family? She might be going around with them so that she wouldn't have to walk around with the young master."
"That is possible. We plan to let all of the princess' men to enter this place but now, five are left outside…" Brother Xu frowned. The appearance of Ling Lan and her friends spoilt their plans and he was unhappy about it. He was worried that the five people left outside would cause them to fail their plan.
27 glanced at Brother Xu. Brother Xu noticed it and said, "27, if you have anything to say, just say it."
"Actually, it is not important if the princess' men are captured. The most important person is the princess," 27 said his real thoughts.
Brother Xu hesitated for a moment. He nodded. "Go and make the necessary arrangements." He agreed with what 27 said. As long as they managed to kill the princess, the five people outside would not be a problem.
27 left with the order. Brother Xu raised his hand. His hand moved and six photos appeared in his hand. They were photos of Ling Lan and her friends. They were taken when they were shopping.
Brother Xu glanced at them for a few seconds. He suddenly throw his hand forward. The six photos shot out. A silver light appeared in his hand and in the next moment, one of the photos got stuck on the wall with a knife. It was a photo of a side profile of Ling Lan but her face couldn't be seen because she lowered her head.
"Everyone had a few photos of their face. You are the only one that didn't have a front shot. Is it because my men are not skilled enough or are you not as simple as you look?" Brother Xu smiled coldly. He was unable to clear his suspicion because of this.
"The show is about to start. I will know whether you are as simple as you look soon. Don't disappoint me!" Brother Xu flipped his hand and shot out a knife. It flew straight into Ling Lan's heart.
On the screen, Ling Lan was lowering her head and seemed to be immersed in tasting the wine. A cold gaze appeared in her eyes.
"Little Four, you said that I am being suspected?"
"Yes, boss!"
"Did I go too far?"
Ling Lan realized her mistake. Being too careful was her weakness. She didn't expect herself to be the one who made the first mistake.