Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Wait.” Chen Yifan said firmly.
“Wait?” Guo Rongqi was puzzled. Wouldn’t they be wasting more time like this?
“There will be even more traps like that ahead of us. If the four of us lead the way, we would have no chance of winning against our opponents. We have to follow the main group and find a chance to escape the ambush.” Chen Yifan stated his opinion.
Guo Rongqi calmed down after listening to his explanation. He pondered for a moment and realized that Chen Yifan was right. They didn’t know what was ahead of them. Nothing good would happen if they just rushed forward without thinking.
“I’ll listen to you.” Guo Rongqi felt that Chen Yifan was a smart person so he decided to follow his lead.
Chen Yi’an looked at his brother with respect. This is my brother. He is someone who was capable of winning over a capable person like Guo Rongqi with just a few words. Sob. As expected of a genius from a military academy. At that moment, the thought that anyone who graduated from a military academy was a genius formed in Chen Yi’an’s naive heart.
Chen Yifan waited patiently. Very soon, the people behind them caught up with them. Some of them chose to rest beside them while a few of them continued without resting.
When almost everyone had overtaken them, Chen Yifan and the other three people got up and started marching again. They blended in the main group.
Using this method, the four of them safely got past three ambushes and finally managed to finish 90% of the journey. There were 30 minutes left. Success seemed to be waving at them.
However, there were not many people remaining. Most of the recruits got stopped by the three ambushes.
“Chen Yifan, what do we do now?” Guo Rongqi looked at the people around them. It was impossible to hide anymore. Chen Yifan was the one who planned everything along the way so Guo Rongqi had already recognized him as the leader.
During this whole time, Chen Yifan was frowning. After he heard Guo Rongqi’s question, he sighed. “I’m afraid that we have fallen into a trap.”
“Why?” Guo Rongqi felt his heart dropped. He didn’t know why Chen Yifan said this.
“This mission might not be what we thought it was. They might be testing our ability to react to sudden situations.” Chen Yifan was confused. Such tests are normally done to pick out elite soldiers. Why did it happen in the 250 Mecha Clan? Even an ace mecha clan wouldn’t have such a harsh test. In his memory, only the special forces had such high standards…
“Are you saying that getting to the destination in time is not the ultimate motive of the test? The main aim is to watch our performance as we get to the destination?” Guo Rongqi’s physique was not as good as Chen Yifan but he was a smart person. He immediately understood what Chen Yifan was saying.
“Maybe we were wrong from the start.” Chen Yifan came from the military academy so he understood what being a soldier meant. It was just that the things that happened in the military academy caused him to question the purpose of being a soldier.
“Why?” Guo Rongqi, Zhou Yu, and Chen Yi’an asked simultaneously. They didn’t know why Chen Yifan said that. It should be known that they managed to escape from five ambushes unscathed. Were they not supposed to escape from the ambush? This didn’t make any sense.
“Do you all still remember the oath that our instructor asked us to remember at the start of our recruit training?” Chen Yifan gave a forced smile.
“Of course.” Chen Yi’an shouted, “Passion and loyalty in service of our beloved Chinese Federation, and to respect, trust, and care for our fellow warriors with a pure heart…”
Guo Rongqi and Zhou Yu knew what Chen Yifan was talking about after hearing the oath. They shouted in unison, “Respect, trust, and care for our fellow warriors with a pure heart!”
Chen Yi’an was confused after the two people interrupted him. “Did I recite it wrongly?”
“No, you’re right.” Guo Rongqi smiled bitterly. If they guessed correctly, their performance at the first five ambushes must have been terrible. Chen Yifan was right. They were wrong from the start.
“This test is a test of our teamwork. However, look at us now. Let’s not talk about teamwork. We didn’t even cooperate with each other.”
“It’s not too late,” Chen Yifan encouraged himself and said softly.
“Do we cooperate with the other recruits? I’m not sure if they are willing to work with us.” They have been thinking for themselves all these while so the other recruits might be suspicious of them if they suddenly suggest working together.
“No matter what, we need to try. We will never be able to succeed the last mission with our own strength,” Chen Yifan replied calmly.
They had been running for 25 minutes without meeting any ambushes. Before this, they would walk into an ambush every 10 to 15 minutes. The longer they remained safe, the greater his worry grew. Their journey was coming to an end soon. He suspected that the last ambush would be even harder than the first five. None of them would be able to escape if they didn’t work together.
The four of them reached a consensus. Guo Rongqi, Zhou Yu, and Chen Yi’an went to look for the other recruits that were alone and communicated with them. Very soon, the recruits started gathering around Chen Yifan. A small team with around 10 people was formed.
Chen Yifan took out the photo of the map and zoomed in on it. He realized that if they didn’t meet any obstacles, they would be able to reach their destination in 15 minutes. Chen Yifan decided to let everyone rest for 10 minutes so that he could explain the current situation to the newly joined members. They could also wait for the other recruits that were behind them.
The recruits that managed to reach this stage were smart and had some capabilities. They were already suspicious about how smooth the last part of the journey was, so everyone felt that the next ambush would be the toughest. Thus, when Guo Rongqi, Zhou Yu, or Chen Yi’an invited them to act together, they accepted the proposal calmly.
Chen Yifan told the recruits what he felt the motive of the test was. The recruits thought about it carefully and found that there was a high possibility that what he said was the truth. Then, Chen Yifan told everyone that the next ambush might be the hardest one and they could only pass it if they worked together. Everyone agreed. However, they were uncertain about the task ahead so they couldn’t come up with a better plan.
After waiting for 10 minutes, more people joined them. There were around 80 people in the team. There were no other recruits behind them. Everyone knew that they were probably the only ones who managed to pass all the five ambush safely. With a depressed heart, they stepped on the last part of the journey together.
There was a small hill around a few hundred meters tall in front of them. On the hill, there was a simple thatched hut. Two people were sitting in the hut, playing Go. Beside them, two other people laid on a long and narrow stone bench with their eyes closed.
A young man with a bulky body and a humble smile on his face suddenly opened his eyes. A glimpse of light flashed past his eyes. He yawned and asked lazily, “How many people do you think will be left for us?” This person was Qi Long.
“There will definitely be some small fry left for you.” The young man who was playing Go beside him replied indifferently. He placed a Go piece on the stone table without any hesitation. Ever since his boss invented this new Go game, he fell in love with it. Whenever he had the time, he would drag someone to play the game with him.
They do have their own version of Go but there were fewer rules compared to their boss’s version. After their boss sent them the rules of her version to their communicators, Han Jijyun gave up on their version. What kind of Go was that? The Boss’s humiliated their version of Go.
However, not everyone liked their boss’s version of Go. Only Li Lanfeng and he were crazy about it. As for their boss… he was a god-tier master in Go.
He remembered what his boss said to him. “After you managed to learn the essence of the game, you can discuss Go with me,” Ling Lan said with a mysterious and lonely expression.
They were still too weak! Han Jijyun sighed. He looked at Li Lanfeng. Li Lanfeng might have felt this way too so he kept studying Go. He wanted to become a god-tier master like their boss so that their boss would have a match with them. They understood what it felt like to be invincible.
Also, their boss wanted them to improve too. That was why he would hide his identity and play a game with them. However, they were unable to win against him yet.
As for why they thought that person was their boss… if it was not him, who else could it be? Who else could be so good at Go and have such a powerful hacking ability?
Without a doubt, Ling Lan was invincible in the eyes of Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng. However, in actual fact… they thought too highly of their boss. If they observed their boss well enough, they would notice that she was in a daze when she played with them. They would be able to see her pupils being dilated the entire time.
Ling Lan was not a Go master. She was someone who didn’t know anything about Go at all.
How was she able to play with Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng then? Well, she had Little Four. In reality, Ling Lan brought over Go from her past life to cure Little Four’s boredness. The person who was playing Go with Han Jijyun and Li Lanfeng was Little Four. Ling Lan only placed the Go pieces on the board for him.
It was tiring to sit for a few hours and move Go pieces. Hence, Ling Lan stopped doing such things.
Why did she say such a mysterious sentence then? Well, she was their boss. She needed to maintain her image as their boss. She couldn’t let her members know that she was a novice at Go, right?
This was the simple truth.
As for the person who played with Li Lanfeng and Han Jiyun online, it was Little Four too. Hence, her legacy continued.
Li Lanfeng smiled when he heard what Han Jijyun had said. He replied, “There will be more than a few small fry. Those traps do not have the ability to completely annihilate the recruits.”
“That will depend on whether they understood the aim of this test. If none of them understood, there will only be a few people left,” Zhao Jun, who was lying beside Li Lanfeng, said.
“Yes. If they worked together from the beginning and got through the ambushes together, there might be many people left. If they didn’t, there might be less than 100 people.” Han Jijyun agreed.
“100 people? I think that you overestimated the recruits.” Qi Long didn’t think too highly of the recruits. Their boss said that this was the worst batch of recruits. He felt that if 50 people reached their checkpoint, it was already a miracle.
“Let’s not talk about Xie Yi and Li Yingjie. Yang Mingzhi, Liu Furong, and Gu Dongyang are experienced people. Boss didn’t tell them his intentions but they will definitely understand what he wants. Hence, they will not annihilate all the recruits,” Han Jijyun explained to Qi Long.
“They’ll give the recruits a chance. If the overall potential of the recruits is still alright, there will be more people reaching our checkpoint. If the potential was not as good, there will be fewer people. I agree with what Jijyun said. There should be around 80 to 100 people. If there are less than 80 recruits, it will almost be impossible to win against us. If there are more than 100 people… Impossible.” Li Lanfeng continued, “However, the people that they let off are most likely those who they feel has potential. It means that the recruits that reach our checkpoint are recruits that had reached a certain standard. We cannot let our guard down.”
“Great. I’ve been waiting for half a day.” Qi Long looked at the time on his communicator and sat up immediately. He said excitedly, “The time is almost up. It’s finally my turn.”
Zhao Jun stood up and stretched himself. “Qi Long, shall we have a bet?”
“What?” Qi Long asked with interest.
“Let’s see which team can capture the most recruits.” Fighting spirit burned in his eyes. Ever since they become team leaders, they were competing with each other.
“Sure!” Qi Long and Zhao Jun hit their palms with each other.
Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun shook their heads when they saw this scene. These two fighting maniacs wouldn’t give up any chance to compare which team is stronger. Li Lanfeng and Han Jijyun were used to it. This was their unique characteristic. Their team members also followed their lead and were also fighters who had the strongest combat abilities. Their teams were among the strongest within the 10 teams. Even the three experienced veterans felt that they were not as driven as these two people.
