Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Wow, this base looks sick!” A few new recruits looked outside from their windows. They looked at the large and seemingly endless base of operation. Their eyes instantly had red hearts pop out from them. After only just coming out from the training camp, they had never seen a real clan’s base of operations before. These new recruits were instantly in shock and awe by the vastness and modernness of their future mecha clan.
The driver of the hover bus received a signal from the base and slowly landed near the entrance. The soldiers on guard at the entrance were fully geared. They walked into the bus with a serious expression on their faces and began to examine the new recruits.
This was a necessary procedure before entering a base. The guards in 250 Mecha Clan were no longer slacking and relaxing like they were before Ling Lan had taken over. If anyone dared to cause any trouble, those people would definitely not have a good time.
A malevolent aura expanded into the bus as these soldiers walked into it. The aura made the rowdy new recruits instantly sit up straight on their seats and not dare to make any noise or even move.
Chen Yifan clearly sensed the malevolent aura the soldiers had on them. He had once felt this type of aura around a few instructors with battlefield experience and around the mercenaries on their mission. How can these soldiers be considered useless?
Chen Yifan had a lot of questions in his mind. Was this 250 Mecha Clan actually the same as what Zhou Yu had said?
After the checks, these soldiers asked the driver of the bus to get off. Then, they took control of the bus. Not long after, the hover bus flew up once again and went into the entrance that had already been opened.
The hover bus flew for another few minutes, then stopped at large square. There weren’t any buildings around them but only grassland and forests. The soldiers told the new recruits to get off. When all of the new recruits got off the bus, the door closed and flew away once again without a trace.
The 400 new recruits who were suddenly put in an unknown location had all became restless and uneasy.
Right at that moment, a simple sketch of a map suddenly appeared on a screen in front of them. Then a voice echoed within the square, “Hey newbies. In order to welcome you newbies in joining 250 Mecha Clan, we prepared a welcoming ceremony specially for you guys. Are you guys ready?”
Chen Yifan bit his lip. What welcome ceremony? Wasn’t it just a game where the veterans prank the new recruits? It was as he had expected. Entering the clan wasn’t that easy.
The expression of the 400 new recruits were all different. Some were afraid, some confused, some nervous and also some who were excited.
“Do you see the map on the screen? Remember it carefully. If you make a wrong turn and activate our base’s defense system, then you’ll die for nothing.”
After hearing these words, everyone’s face turned pale. Were people actually going to die?
“In the division, there are many new recruits who perish for different reasons every year. Hope you lot won’t become one of them.” The warning was heard by every single new recruit. Everyone began to memorize the map on the screen. Many people were afraid of memorizing it wrongly and immediately used their communicators to record the map.
“You have two hours. If you don’t get to the destination within two hours… Heh, good luck!” The announcer’s voice was filled with schadenfreude. This voice made Chen Yifan’s heart drop to his stomach. A punishment that hasn’t been told to them yet indeed was something to be worried about. It seemed, in order to make sure there weren’t any casualties, they must complete the task.
“The countdown starts now!” As the announcer finished speaking, the map on the large screen disappeared. Immediately a countdown timer appeared counting down from ten seconds.
“…4, 3, 2, 1, go!” After this voice finished, a few new recruits, who were anxious to get going, took their bags and went to the direction on the map by themselves. There were also many new recruits who began to form groups and teams.
Chen Yifan’s group of three joined a small team after Chen Yifan signaled the other two to do so. No one knew what would happen on the way to their destination. With more people moving together, they would be able to solve issues that one single person would not be able to.
Inside a monitoring room, Ling Lan, Li Shiyu, Lin Zhong-qing and the others weren’t busy, were secretly watching the performance of these new recruits.
“These new recruits aren’t very capable. Their performances are all worse than the stronger ones.” Lin Zhong-qing felt a little bit of regret. There wasn’t anyone who created a group that had more than 30 people in it. Most people just moved out by themselves. In the wilderness, this type of decision was without a doubt a death wish.
“These are all new recruits, whether they become a snake or dragon in the future is all dependent on how you nurture them,” Ling Lan said calmly. Lin Zhong-qing raised his head as if dumbstruck and looked towards his Boss with a look of disbelief. Did his Boss mean that these people will be working under him from now on?
“Each person in the logistics department of 250 Mecha Clan currently has their own position. Before these people make any mistakes, I won’t be able to do anything to them. Also, the current logistics personnel are already used to their commanding officer. If you were to take the place of their commanding officer, you would probably need to do a lot in order to have them submit to you. Spending time and effort on something like this is a waste and yields no benefits. This is also the reason why I haven’t done anything to those in the logistics department,” explained Ling Lan. “However, I won’t be able to rest if the mecha logistics department is under someone else’s command. For these 400 new logistics personnel, I don’t want anyone else to meddle with them. They’ll be given to you. I hope you will be able to nurture an exceptional group of mecha logistics soldiers.
“Yes regiment commander!” Lin Zhong-qing excited saluted.
In all this time, Lin Zhong-qing saw everyone else in their battle team getting their own job positions and assignments. Only he, Luo Shaoyun’s group of four didn’t get assigned to any missions. They would go to places where they were needed. Luo Shaoyun’s group of four were alright with this because they didn’t think too much of it. Lin Zhong-qing on the other hand was different. After all, Luo Shaoyun’s group of four had only joined the battle team after entering the 23rd division. Lin Zhong-qing however, had followed the Boss from back when they were in the Scout Academy. Other veteran members were assigned important work while he had free time on his hands. This made Lin Zhong-qing suspect whether or not he was too weak, thus the Boss was afraid to assign him an important task.
Now that he heard what the Boss had planned for him, Lin Zhong-qing understood that he was thinking too much. The Boss had already considered him, it was just that there wasn’t any chances before, so he didn’t tell him about the arrangements. This was his Boss. When he didn’t have 100% certainty in doing something, he wouldn’t simply promise anything.
After being excited for a short while, Lin Zhong-qing slowly calmed down. He discovered that Luo Shaoyun, Yuan Youyun, Li Jinghong and He Chaoyang looked at him with envious looks. Lin Zhong-qing suddenly thought of something. He remembered that during this period, the Boss had made him take Luo Shaoyun’s group of four on missions. After spending some time getting to know one another, he and Luo Shaoyun’s group of four were more familiar with each other. He instantly had an idea.
“Boss, just having myself to take on 400 people is definitely impossible. You have to give me some helpers,” Lin Zhong-qing requested.
Ling Lan half-smiled and glanced at him while smirking, “Oh? What kind of helpers do you need?”
Seeing the satisfaction showing in Ling Lan’s eyes, Lin Zhong-qing knew he had guessed Ling Lan’s thoughts correctly. He instantly smiled and said, “Boss, don’t blame me for stealing people away but I would like Shaoyun, Youyun, Jinghong and Chaoyang to come with me. The five of us will make the mecha logistics department better together.”
Ling Lan glanced towards the four, who had expressions of joy on their faces, and said indifferently, “I’m not against it, but whether they are willing to help you or not, you are going to have to invite them yourself. If they aren’t willing to go with you, don’t come running to me.”
Before Lin Zhong-qing could answer Ling Lan, He Chaoyang already shouted, “Boss, we are willing to join the mecha logistics department to help Zhong-qing.” The four of them were bored from not having anything to do. Now that they suddenly had something to do, they of course were willing to do it.
Ling Lan glanced over coldly. The sharpness in her eyes instantly frightened He Chaoyang. He put down his head and didn’t dare to look at his Boss.
“If you’re joining the mecha logistics department to help, then you guys can join.” Ling Lan said calmly. “If you guys do, then take up the responsibility. No matter who makes a mistake, I will punish them no matter what and won’t play favorites. You understand?”
“Understood!” The four of them shouted simultaneously.
The four of them were intelligent people. They were certain from their Boss’s words that their Boss had arranged them to the position of being Lin Zhong-qing’s deputy officers.
The four of them didn’t feel wronged by this. In the time, they went on missions with Lin Zhong-qing and witnessed his capabilities. They were already thoroughly convinced that in terms of strength, they could only become Lin Zhong-qing’s deputy. Ling Lan’s arrangement was completely fair. Also, Lin Zhong-qing’s temperament was great, always willing to talk and come to an agreement. The time they all worked together was very enjoyable. The four of them were also very willing to continue to work with Lin Zhong-qing.
Seeing that the four of them didn’t complain about anything and excitedly accepted the arrangement, Ling Lan instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
It should be known that during wartime, the most important factor was logistics. If there was an issue with logistics even if the strength of their mecha operators were strong and ruthless, they still wouldn’t be able to stay in battle for too long. Only when the logistics was made sure to be strong and sturdy, capable of sending in reinforcements to the front-line continuously, then the military corps would be able to bring out its full potential.
Now the most important part, Ling Lan of course would hand over positions of power to people she trusted. However, Lin Zhong-qing by himself wasn’t enough to develop an outstanding logistics team. Thus, Ling Lan arranged four deputies for Lin Zhong-qing.
However, most soldiers with some capabilities nowadays wouldn’t want to go to the logistics team because logistics was a department where people begged to not make any mistakes instead of acquiring merits. If an individual wanted to rise up in the ranks in logistics, there was almost no hope. Looking at the entire Federation, there were actually no officials that came out from logistics. Even if there were, those people would at the very most be a Senior Colonel.
This was also why Ling Lan was worried the four of them weren’t willing to go. However, now it seemed Ling Lan had worried too much. Luo Shaoyun’s group of four didn’t feel that it a bad thing for them to go into logistics. For them, ranking up from their Second Lieutenant rank to Senior Captain was already reaching the top (vice-captains of mecha logistics had a rank of Senior Captain). Also, the rank of Senior Captain was a rank that holds military power. It was much better than a rank based on reputation.
In reality, ever since Ling Lan took over as the Regiment Commander of 250 Mecha Clan, no matter if it was her or her team members, they were all getting used to their new positions. Luckily, all of the members in Ling Lan’s battle team were all capable individuals who were also stable and steady. Many of them were set in important positions in the mecha clan and were all easily adapting to it.
For example, Qi Long, Luo Lang, Xie Yi, Li, Zhao Jun, Han Jijyun and Li Yingjie became mecha battle team captains. They each led 25 ace mecha operators and created strong mecha battle teams. The members under them were returning to their past glory due to their hard work.
Li Shiyu on the other hand had already been appointed as the clan’s head physician. Luo Chao and Han Xuya became his aides. Through their hard work and effort, 250 Mecha Clan’s treatment facilities were temporarily opened. Of course, the clan’s hospital was still lacking in skilled labourers. A portion of these new recruits would be selected to fill in those positions.
A hospital was similarly a facility that was necessary during wartime. It needed the maximum amount of people working in it order for it to run smoothly and could not have any positions unfilled.
Chang Xinyuan was responsible for the research center of the clan. However, this was only just an idea Ling Lan had and was currently not set in stone. Currently, only Chang Xinyuan was building the modification factory by himself. Once it becomes built, this department would be the most undermanned. Not only did they lack enough logistics personnel, they also lacked technical personnel. Ling Lan couldn’t help but put this plan aside for now.
The mecha logistics department that Ling Lan had been worried about, now had 400 logistics personnel. With Lin Zhong-qing taking up the lead and Luo Shaoyun, Yuan Youyun, Li Jinghong, and He Chaoyang aiding him. It helped resolve a big worry Ling Lan had and made her feel much more relaxed.
However, if she were to allocate two logisticians for each mecha operator, 400 was still not enough. Additionally, these 400 new recruits weren’t all going to be allocated to mecha operators. Li Shiyu also needed a lot of people… And she still needed to allocate a few to Chang Xinyuan to help him. It seemed that the 400 people she acquired from asking Staff Officer He Xuyang was still not enough. Ling Lan regretted her decision.
The only reason Ling Lan didn’t consider the original 100 or so members in the logistics department was because, as the number of mecha operators increased, this 100 or so logisticians were already going to have a difficult time dealing with the entire mecha clan’s normal day-to-day living and would not be able to spare anyone to do anything else.
Ling Lan was worried but knew that she couldn’t be hasty about all this and needed to walk the path step by step. There will be a day when 250 Mecha Clan becomes a fully equipped, well allocated and mature ace mecha clan.
Ling Lan and the others watched for a bit longer. Ling Lan then suddenly asked, “Are Qi Long and the others ready?”
Lin Zhong-qing softly replied, “Preparations were done long ago, just waiting for your command Boss.”
“Let them begin their mission,” replied Ling Lan.
“Yes, regiment commander!” Lin Zhong-qing immediately gave orders to the ten team leaders.
The ten teams who were waiting at their positions began to move out after receiving the orders.
Chen Yifan led Chen Yi’an and Zhou Yu and followed behind a fast moving group. The leader of this group was called Guo Rongqi. He was a detailed individual. After studying the entire map, he gave clear instructions to everyone in the team. If they wanted to reach the destination by the allotted time, it would be impossible to reach it with normal walking speeds. They must jog and move faster.
Although many people were not so convinced, they still didn’t mind running for a while. Also, saving time in the first half of the total distance would make the second half much easier. Thus, they jogged forward towards their destination.
