Chapter 173
Ling Lan could only rub her nose and accept Little Four's contemptuous glares. Who asked her to be a real dimwit when it came to things like this? In future, she would still need Little Four to explain things to her. Ling Lan knew well that she could not use pure force on Little Four all the time — when appropriate, she should let him have his fun, so that he would put in even more effort in future to provide information of this sort.
It had to be admitted that Ling Lan herself was actually pretty black-bellied at times. Let us surrender some compa.s.sionate tears for the clueless Little Four in advance!
In fact, the spiritual power training method pa.s.sed down by Ling Xiao's legacy was extremely reasonable. Even Little Four, who had N-amount of materials saved in his databases, could not help but have an intense light in his eyes at seeing these systematic training methods. While Ling Lan was not looking, he swiftly made a digital duplicate of the material in his hands, which then vanished instantly after without a trace. Who knows where he sent it to...
In a particular exclusive s.p.a.ce within the learning s.p.a.ce, below the dark and gloomy skies, there was a towering mountain peak. At its highest point, there was a flat cloud platform. Number One was sitting there in solitude, eyes closed as he meditated. Suddenly, his brows lifted and he reached out a hand in a quick grab, and a file appeared just like that out of thin air into his hand.
Only then did Instructor Number One open his eyes and start flipping casually through the file. Then, his expression abruptly turned grim, and his cold voice thundered throughout the entire s.p.a.ce. "a.s.semble!"
His voice had just dissipated when in that gloomy patch of sky, about 10 metres or so above the area Number One was meditating, eight dark vertical lines suddenly appeared.
Subsequently, those vertical lines grew thicker and thicker, and then they actually split open from the middle, and the first thing that came to sight was a pair of hands in each line. After that, the hands forcefully ripped those black seams apart, revealing the figures they were attached to. They were the instructors of the learning s.p.a.ce, from Number Two to Number Nine, all eight of them with no absentees.
The seemingly simple and honest Instructor Number Three laughed heartily and said, "Big Brother, what has happened, actually calling us to a.s.semble?"
Number Five's eyes narrowed slightly, and a harmless smile emerged on his handsome face. "It must be something big, but who knows if it can make me excited..." That said, he licked at his lips, his demeanour one of profound interest. Speaking of which, ever since little Ling Lan had graduated from his tutelage, he had felt as if life had lost all meaning, he no longer had any desire or motivation to do anything...
Number Four was a s.e.xy great beauty. Even dressed in compact military clothes, her s.e.xy curves and buxom figure were still clear enough to cause ma.s.sive nosebleeds in men — oh, the allure of a woman in uniform...
She sighed and said grumpily, "I only care about when I can debut... I really want to teach our family's Baby Lan!"
Number Nine sniffed coolly, "Ling Lan has no need to learn those things of yours..."
Number Four smirked and shook her hands, "No, no, no. Sister Nine, don't be so sure. Baby Lan will still need a man someday. When that time comes, she will need everything of mine. I will let her master all the methods she needs to control everything of a man's..."
Number Nine was about to retort when she seemed to recall something, and so held back and said nothing...
Number Six, Number Seven, and Number Eight were triplets, all male. They all looked to be around 25 to 26 years old, faces attractive and masculine, the type that would easily inspire trust in others. The three looked exactly the same. At a glance, it was impossible to tell one from another. They looked balefully at their big brother Number One, their gazes just short of directly complaining to their big brother — why didn't he let them go out and teach their baby disciple?
Number One seemed unable to withstand the wronged-wife look coming from three identical handsome faces at the same time, for he coughed and said, "Before Ling Lan has decided her future developmental pathway, you all just have no way of coming out..."
Who asked the three of them to be specialists in specific areas? Number Six was a whiz at anything to do with finance
"Eh? Where's Number Two?" Number Four suddenly recalled that there was still Number Two who shared their sad fate, not being able to debut as well. Could it be that Number Two, unlike them, did not want to interact with their Baby Lan?
Everyone abruptly realised that Number Two who had come here with them had actually disappeared...
Number One coolly thrust the doc.u.ment in his hands behind him, saying calmly, "Number Two, take a look at this doc.u.ment."
The shadow of Number One's right hand suddenly moved, stretching up to take the doc.u.ment from Number One's hands. The moment the doc.u.ment left Number One's hands, it became a shadow too, returning to join Number One's shadow, merging seamlessly into it.
Watching this scene, everyone present felt a chill invade their hearts. However, they all seemed to have some resistance built up against this creepy shadow play — most of them just s.h.i.+fted a little, but then stood steady and pretended not to see anything.
Very soon, the dark shadow spoke, "A very perfect set of spiritual power training methods, even safer and steadier than the triggering method that our Mandora star system has to awaken innate talents. Compared to this method, our measures are clearly a little violent." The shadow's voice was hoa.r.s.e and ragged, somewhat grating on the ears, making anyone who heard it feel uncomfortable.
"It's really that good?" Number Five's eyes finally sparked with some interest. His voice had barely faded when a copy of the doc.u.ment sprang out from the shadow and flew straight at Number Five.
Number Five caught it deftly and began browsing through it. His gaze flickered and he sighed in awe, "So that's how it is. This way, the effect of awakening the innate talents will be doubled with just half the effort. This is a good lesson, I'll need to see how I can integrate this with my h.e.l.l Training..."
Number Nine grabbed the doc.u.ment from him, and sniffed coldly. "Don't ruin this great thing..."
Number Five just smiled without retorting, and did not try to take the doc.u.ment back either. Frankly, as beings made from data, they could clearly know all the content within the doc.u.ment just by touching it; browsing through it was just a habit they had.
Everyone took their turn to take a look, and they each had their respective insights. Spiritual power training had a certain boosting function upon high-intelligence bio-ent.i.ties like themselves. Or should we say, every one of them obtained differing types of insights applicable to their own domain — this was beneficial to their evolution.
"Who'd have thought that we would one day receive a present from our host..." sighed Number Four. Her words caused everyone to fall silent. Due to the bindings of the rules, they would have to repay their host for the gift. However, at present, it was rather difficult to repay their host properly, because this was not the Mandora star system. Without the relevant technology, they could not materialize...
"This matter, let's leave it till later. There will be a chance somehow." Number One closed the issue for now, in wait for a future opportunity. For this reason, at some time in the future, Number Six, Number Seven, and Number Eight would be working hard to develop the technology of this world, fighting to hasten the arrival of the day they could materialize.
Instructor Number One considered for a moment, and then said to Number Two, "Number Two, it's time for you to debut."
"Yes, Number One!" said Number Two darkly. This time, he had once again changed his manner of speaking. Being voiced by the shadow, the entire scene was made dark and eerie.
This sort of supernatural atmosphere displeased the other instructors. They all put forth their protest for Number Two to change his image so that he would not frighten their beloved Baby Lan.
Their protests were only met by Number Two's gruesome, cold chuckles. The entire s.p.a.ce was filled with the hair-raising sound of his laughter, and then the entire s.p.a.ce suddenly dimmed. Dark winds rose on four sides, a ghostly chill swirling into the air, and nameless will-o'-the-wisps fluttered in the distance... it was as if they had abruptly been plunged into the abyss of h.e.l.l.
Other than Number One who still remained expressionless, as unmoving as a mountain, the others, even the extremely perverse Number Five, could no longer hold onto their smiles. At this time, Number Two said faintly, "If Ling Lan could endure Number Five's torments, then I think she should not be afraid of me... me... me..." His voice echoed endlessly within this s.p.a.ce...
At these words, Number Five instantly became the focus of everyone's anger as they vented their fear on him. They glared fiercely at Number Five, wanting him to fix things with the gaslighting Number Two... Number Nine, in particular, huffed coldly, her expression one of great displeasure. If Number One had not been there, she would definitely have challenged Number Five to a fight. Mind you, since a long while back, she had already wanted to give Number Five a good beating on behalf of their adorable Baby Lan.
Facing the crowd's anger, Number Five could only smile stiffly. With regards to Number Two, no matter how perverse Number Five was, he did not dare to push Number Two too far. That fellow was extremely proficient at spiritual manipulation, and was good at concealing himself. If he angered him by accident, he would definitely be greatly brutalized by the other. Number Five was a s.a.d.i.s.t, not a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t.
Besides, towards Ling Lan, he really had no evil intentions. Why couldn't these companions beside him understand this? It should be known that their soft namby-pamby methods would never be able to cultivate an unparalleled prodigy — it could only be said that a genius was always lonely and misunderstood...
Number Five cravenly pretended to be lost in the silence of his own genius and swiftly departed!
Ling Lan did not know yet that her good days were over. Very soon, she would be greeted by yet another wave of the learning s.p.a.ce's torments. Currently, she was anxiously standing at the entrance to her villa, waiting for the arrival of Qi Long and the others. Not just them, even the other members of group 072 were coming, as well as the new addition Lin Zhong-qing.
This was the first time Ling Lan was receiving a visit from cla.s.smates in both her lifetimes. Even the typically calm Ling Lan could no longer keep her calm in this moment; she was actually quite nervous.
"Boss Lan, we're here!" This voice was most certainly that of the loudmouth Qi Long. Ling Lan walked out of her little garden, and immediately saw a group of children dressed in red uniforms and white uniforms about 100 metres away. The fellow right in the front waving wildly at her was none other than the brash and forthright Qi Long.
Right behind him, a girl was also waving just as vigorously. It was the candid, tom-boyish Han Xuya. Meanwhile, Luo Chao was closely tailing Han Xuya, tugging on the other's sleeve with a red face, trying to remind Han Xuya to be more reserved.
Yuan Youyun, Luo Shaoyun, He Chaoyang, and Li Jinghong were looking at Ling Lan with faces filled with excitement. They looked as if they really wanted to greet her but was unsure whether they should. Ever since Ling Lan and the others had gone to planet Demonbeast to hunt, they had not seen them for as long as half a year.