Chapter 1139 - Fish Bait!

“I will definitely dig them up.” Little Four rubbed his fists like a swindling old man as he spoke. It was finally time for him to show his abilities.

“Just watch them for now. Don’t make any sudden moves.” Ling Lan suddenly put an end to his dream.

“Ah? Why?” Little Four pursed his lips as he stared at Ling Lan for an answer.

“Li Lanfeng is already guarding the virtual world. He is probably there waiting for the big fish to take the bait.” Ling Lan’s eyes narrowed. The reason why she was being so truthful about her identity was because she was putting out a bait. She wanted to see who would not be able to resist and take the bait.

Of course, it was alright if there weren’t any fish biting. After all, her real goal was to probe the water to alert the larger fishes hidden in the deep seas.

She had already become the commander-in-chief of the mecha clans of the base, so she needed to get rid of those people with multiple identities who had plots and ploys for their own gains. Ling Lan never liked danger to be hidden so close to her.

Hearing this, Little Four ran to the corner with his stubby legs and squatted down with a dissatisfied expression. This Li Lanfeng actually took my only chance of showing off? Hmph, I don’t like him even more now.’

However, even if Little Four really wanted to show off, he still wouldn’t go against Boss’s wishes. If Boss wanted to set out a bait for the larger fishes to bite, he would just watch and silently wait for Boss’s next orders. However, if Li Lanfeng didn’t perform up to expectations, then he shouldn’t blame him for making any moves. When the time comes, he would use all of his power to make Li Lanfeng look bad in order to lower his position in Boss’s heart.

It was very clear that Little Four held grudges for a long time. Let us pray for Li Lanfeng...

At that moment, Li Lanfeng was floating in the sky of the virtual world, looking down on Base Nebula.

The seven locations he was keeping a watchful eye under had three locations where someone had logged in. Li Lanfeng smirked and in the next second, his black cape wrapped arounds his entire body like a black cocoon. Afterwards, the black cocoon split into three silhouettes and disappeared. It was as though he had never appeared in the virtual world.

Out of the three people who logged in, two of them immediately went to the mecha arena like they always did to participate in mecha battles. The third person went to buy something from the virtual shop before returning to the plaza square in the base. In the plaza square, he was sitting down on a bench to take a short break.

There were many soldiers moving about within the plaza. That person sat there for a while before he seemed to have remembered something. He quickly stood up and went towards the mecha parts shop on the opposite side of the plaza.

“You’re here, Major Wang.” The logistician who was responsible for the shop saw Major Wang walking in and greeted him warmly.

“Yes, I want to ask whether Master Ming has finished the mecha arm I asked him to make,” asked Major Wang.

“Master Ming just finished it yesterday. He originally wanted to notify you about the completion of the arm yesterday but he didn’t expect that Caesar would attack us so suddenly. Everyone was preparing for battle so we just placed your arm to the side,” explained the logistician.

“No matter. This battle was quite an eye-opening experience. This battle allowed me to see the inadequacies of our base.” Major Wang had a pensive look on his face. “If Lingtian wasn’t here, we probably would not have escaped with our lives.”

“Yeah, we’re lucky to have Lingtian,” the logistician said with great pride on his face.

After Major Wang spoke with the logisticians for a short while, he calmly walked towards the warehouse in the back to find Master Ming for his mecha arm.

The warehouse was busy. The mechanics all had their heads down and were focusing greatly on their work. Most mechanics in the industry were perfectionists in their own right. They wished for every modification they were doing to be as perfect as they could be.

Among them, there was a youthful yet white-haired old man who would easily draw a person’s attention as soon as one laid his or her eyes on them. Anyone who entered the warehouse might neglect any other person in the warehouse, but they wouldn’t be able to neglect this old man’s existence. This old man’s intense focus and impossible to see installation techniques force those around him to marvel at his abilities.

After seeing the old man, the corner of Major Wang’s lips lifted slightly. He walked with great stride and greeted him with a smile, “Master Ming.”

After hearing the greeting, Master Ming stopped what he was doing and raised his head. He realized that it was a familiar friend and a smile quickly appeared on his face. “Major Wang, you’re here.” He stood up, took the towel from his assistant and wiped his forehead. Then, he spoke to the few logisticians who were studying his repairing techniques, “You’ve all saw those movements clearly, right? Now you guys give it a try.”

“Master, can we really do this?” It was clear that these logisticians weren’t too confident.

“Hmph, a bunch of sissies. This is the virtual world, even if you break it, you can still restart. What are you afraid of?” Master Ming instantly had a disappointed expression on his face as if he was underwhelmed at how capable the younger generations were. Back then, he didn’t have such good working environments like theirs. In order to stay alive when he was apprenticing in a mecha shop, he would have to endure his master’s ruthless insults and beatings for breaking even the smallest mechanical part. His food rations would also be reduced and there would always be days when he would pass the night starving.

“Yes, yes, yes.” The logisticians all knew that Master Ming didn’t have a good temper so they immediately nodded in agreement when they heard him starting to nag.

After giving his orders to these apprentices of his, Master Ming said to Major Wang, “Alright, let’s go see the virtual data of your mecha arm.

The two of them walked out of the warehouse and went into a product display room. Everything in the room was organized neatly. Master Ming led Major Wang towards an area where mecha arms were on display. He pointed towards one of the thick and shiny metal arms and said, “There, that one is yours.”

Major Wang’s eyes brightened as he exclaimed in awe, “You truly live up to your reputation, Master Ming. This is exactly what I wanted.”

“As long as you like it,” perhaps he had heard all the praises in the world so Master Ming only replied indifferently to his high praise.

“It’s really too perfect. I believe that in Base Nebula, there isn’t a single mecha engineer who can be compared to you, Master Ming.” Major Wang seemed to be very impressed with Master Ming’s techniques and was quite respectful in his words.

These words seemed to have triggered a memory in Master Ming’s mind. He shook his head and said, “Don’t say that. I saw the live broadcast of the battle. Those mechas from Lingtian are probably all modified mechas. Their modifications are all perfect for the mecha too. They definitely have a very skilled mecha modification master in their ranks...”

“Of course, Lingtian is...” Major Wang quickly stopped what he was about to say.

“Is what?” Master Ming seemed to be drawn in to Major Wang’s accidental slip up as he asked curiously.

Major Wang had a complicated expression on his face. Although it wasn’t a secret that couldn’t be told, he still felt that it wasn’t good to tell others before Regiment Commander Ling publicly announced her identity.

“Major Wang, Wang Junzhi, Little Wang! Are you planning on hiding something from me even though we’re already so close?” Master Ming had an annoyed expression on his face. He always hated it when people stopped mid-way in their sentence.

“Alright, Master Ming. I only just got word of this as well and will only be telling you. Please don’t go around telling other people about it.” Major Wang didn’t want to anger Master Ming so he could only tell him to not talk to other people about it.

“Am I someone who gossips?” Master Ming’s gaze narrowed. He felt that Major Wang’s words were humiliating him.

He didn’t like to gossip but sometimes after a few drinks, he would become very talkative. No one knew whether he was saying anything he wasn’t supposed to... Major Wang rolled his eyes in his mind, but he still put up an expression of total seriousness. “Okay, okay, okay, I’ll trust you. Lingtian’s Regiment Commander Ling is the son of Ling Xiao who everyone talks about. Do you think his mecha clan wouldn’t have mecha engineer masters? Even if General Ling Xiao was fair and just... he still would have to think about his own son. That’s normal human behavior.”

“Ah, I see. No wonder you didn’t want me to say anything about it. This matter definitely cannot be talked about.” Master Ming was very surprised. He was now even more interested in Lingtian’s mecha engineer masters. “If General Ling Xiao made the arrangements, then this master of modification is definitely amazing. If it’s possible, I would really like to sit down and talk to him.”

“There will definitely be chances in the future since Prince Ling is now our base’s mecha clans’ commander-in-chief. He wouldn’t be leaving the base any time soon. Alright, I also need to return to the real world to install my mecha arm. Master Ming, thank you for time and effort.”

“Why are you thanking me for? If you use it well and kill a few enemies, I would be very happy.” Smiled Master Ming. “The mecha arm has already been sent to the mecha hold. This is the serial number for the pick-up. Go pick it up yourself.”

Major Wang put away the serial number, paid the required credits and bid farewell to Master Ming.

Li Lanfeng, who was watching all of this from the side, frowned slightly. There was no doubt that there was something wrong with Major Wang. He just didn’t know what type of threat he posed.

However, it was difficult to ascertain this Master Ming’s identity.

The shadow Li Lanfeng created followed Major Wang as he left. After the shadow watched as Major Wang disconnected from the virtual world, it gave up on following him further and returned to its host body.

“Not telling someone in the real world but rather in the virtual world. Could it be like what our regiment commander had predicted, the opposition is hidden within the virtual world...” However, who was the informant? Was Master Ming the informant? Or was he just used as bait?

Li Lanfeng didn’t leave the virtual world and continued to watch those suspicious individuals.

At that moment, Ling Lan had bid farewell to Yu Huan. Li Lanfeng, who still had most of his spirit in the virtual world, left the command center and returned to Lingtian’s camping ground.

In the middle of the night, a black cloaked individual suddenly appeared within the display room where Master Ming and Master Wang had talked earlier.

He walked towards the positions Major Wang and Master Ming had stood. He stood there for a long time and after a while, he seemed to have received something. Then, he showed an expression of satisfaction and was preparing to leave.

Suddenly, he stopped walking, turned around towards a direction and shouted out softly, “Who’s there?”

Another black cloaked individual slowly appeared from a position that was previously empty.

“Not good. I’ve fallen into a trap.” The black cloaked individual who first appeared quickly readied a fighting stance. Suddenly, he dashed to the side but he didn’t expect that his body would be completely locked up by a formless power, forcing him to be unable to move an inch.

“I was wondering why Major Wang would say all that to Master Ming,” said the second black cloaked individual with a smile. “I didn’t think that there would actually be a spectral ability user hidden within the base. Now everything can be explained.”

“Spectral ability user? Who are you?” The first black cloaked individual instantly expanded his spectral abilities to struggle out of his opponent’s power.

“I also want to know where you came from, mister spectral ability user.” The second black cloaked individual was filled with interest. His two spectral ability battles were all in Base Nebula. He didn’t know whether it was a coincidence or his terrible fate.

Although the first black cloaked spectral ability user hid his face, he still had killing intent seeping out from his body. At that moment, outside the display room, a whistling sound suddenly came out. The individual who arrived first, suddenly turned stiff. The spectral power from his body completely expanded out and rushed fiercely towards the second spectral ability user.

The second spectral ability user only smiled lightly in response to the incoming attack. Suddenly, a dark vortex appeared in front of him which easily sucked in the spectral attack.

Right at that moment, the first spectral ability user suddenly flew backwards and rushed outside of the display room.

The second spectral ability user saw this and pointed at his opponent with his finger. A dark wave appeared from his fingertip and it flew towards the second spectral ability user.

Bang!

A transparent spectral shield appeared in its way and instantly blocked the dark wave.

This shield gave the escaping individual enough time to hide within virtual space and completely vanish.

“You want to get away? It won’t be that easy.” The second spectral ability user began activating his abilities which could follow the traces of the individual. Unfortunately, he still didn’t find any traces of him in the end.

“Consider yourself lucky,” said the second spectral ability user begrudgingly.

After a few minutes, a silhouette suddenly appeared beside him.

“Lanfeng, that’s enough.” It was indeed Ling Lan.

As Ling Lan finished speaking, the black cloak on the second spectral ability user disappeared which instantly revealed Li Lanfeng’s beautiful and goddess-like face.

“Wasn’t my acting great?” Li Lanfeng asked with a smile on his face.

“Did you get a trace on the enemy?” Spectral ability users were quite sensitive to spectral energies so they could easily notice when they were tracked. Thus, in order to find the spectral ability user who had escaped, they must rely on an even stronger one.

“Of course. In terms of spectral abilities, I’ve never lost before,” Li Lanfeng said confidently.

“He should be here.” A map of the virtual world appeared in Li Lanfeng’s hand as he pointed towards a location on the map.

“So it’s old acquaintances...” Ling Lan saw the location and half-smiled.

“Looks like Piercing Arrow has a lot of secrets.” Li Lanfeng laughed.

“Let me do the rest. You go back and sleep. You’ve already been on the lookout for an entire day,” Ling Lan turned towards Li Lanfeng and said concernedly.

Li Lanfeng heard the concern in her voice and turned around with a shocked expression. His eyes widened and he jokingly yet caringly said, “What?! You’re worried about me?”

This monster. When did he become so daring? The beauty who Ling Lan teased all the time was now teasing her. Ling Lan’s lips couldn’t help but twitch a little.

“Yeah... If a beauty like yourself is tired, I would be very worried.” Ling Lan raised her eyebrows and gave a half-smile to Li Lanfeng. Right as Li Lanfeng was about to respond to her, Ling Lan continued, “If you’re tired, how would I force you to do some month training regimens.”

“Now seeing you all energized, I don’t know if you’ll be satisfied with just three months of training,” said Ling Lan as she raised her eyebrows.

Li Lanfeng’s forehead wrinkled slightly. He looked at Ling Lan with a sad puppy look. “Regiment commander, you’re so cruel...” The sad look of a bullied otherworldly beauty almost made Ling Lan drool. She really wanted to tease him even more.

“If I was actually cruel, I would instantly have you do half a year of training,” Ling Lan snorted coldly. She definitely couldn’t let her guard around this guy. If not, this guy would continue showing such greatly coveted expressions.

“Don’t show that kind of expression in front of me ever again. You’re not even giving off the vibes of a man now,” Ling Lan said with an annoyed tone.

After hearing this, Li Lanfeng replied helplessly, “Yes, regiment commander. I will try my best to adhere to your wishes.”

Ling Lan waved her hand to gesture to Li Lanfeng that he could leave.

Seeing this, Li Lanfeng smiled and disappeared from the virtual world.