Ye Yun was quite tense right now. He noticed when Ye Muo’s footsteps slowed even a beat and turned to bark at him to follow close.
The inside of the warship was very spacious. It was mainly silver in colour.
Claire was the first to speak.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? Its name is the Mother Bear, and it’s used exclusively to teach cubs like you.”
This warship was the most basic model whose general navigation could be handled by AI. Any fine manoeuvres, however, would require the input of psychic power. It was travelling on autopilot right now. The command centre was empty aside from the pilot and the two instructors.
Aaron and Claire took them all over the ship for a brief introduction.
“…Warships must be controlled using psychic power during combat. You’ll get to experience that in later years. Over there are the landing gears used to reduce speed when landing.”
When they came back to the most open area of the ship, the command centre, Claire called out.
“Turn on viewing mode.”
The outer walls of the warship gradually became transparent. There was a murmur of surprise among the students.
“You can go have another look at the areas you’re most interested in on your own now. Be careful not to wander off to restricted areas.”
The students soon dispersed and began to move freely in groups of twos and threes.
Aaron shot Claire a look of faint disapproval.
Claire shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
“The most important places all require iris authentication anyway. What’s the harm in letting them relax a bit first before they start vomiting later? We can’t let that end up becoming the highlight of their first experiential learning opportunity.”
Ye Yun and his entourage of seven or eight white uniforms remained together. Everyone followed Ye Yun without question. He quickly made arrangements.
“Inspect all your equipment and head over to scout out the emergency exit. Then go over how to put on the landing gear again.”
Claire walked over to Aaron.
“Almost there, right? Z472 really is a fine place. It’s an uninhabited abandoned planet far from the imperial capital that’s filled with all sorts of trash and abandoned buildings. Direct shelling should be all right.”
Aaron still had a serious look on his face. He stood pencil straight.
“Compared to the previous batches, they’re far too relaxed. Far too relaxed.”
“The little guys over there are doing a pretty good job, though.”
Aaron inclined his chin. He was referring to the group organized by Ye Yun. Claire swept a glance over and noticed that they were all subservient to Ye Yun.
“How scary. The elites of Class A have already established a hierarchy in their first year.”
Claire deliberately huddled over and shivered a bit, looking away in mock reverence.
Aaron glared at him. He happened to have been a white uniform all the way until graduation.
“If your eyesight is still passable, you would have spotted a student from another class mixed in.”
He was referring to Ye Muo, whose black uniform was unusually conspicuous surrounded by white.
Claire waved his hand in a gesture of surrender before opening the comms.
“This is the Mother Bear. What’s the situation?”
The other side answered loudly.
“The fawns have all been herded into the hunting ground and are staying there obediently. We’ve even saved the best viewing position for you lot!”
……
“Although the surface of the Mother Bear has been restored, you can tell from the scratches and the newness of its components that it’s not merely used for teaching. This warship is still in active service.”
“All other locations require additional permissions and are temporarily inaccessible–”
Ye Yun was quietly discussing the current situation with the others. They were speculating about what tests might come next when he suddenly stopped and tugged at Ye Muo.
Ye Muo caught his drift and looked outside. The entire command centre went quiet.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Outside was an entire fleet of gigantic warships, each surrounded by a large number of mechs. They were gathered together, facing a nearby planet.
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“Mother Bear is requesting port access.”
“Access granted. The channel is open. Safe travels, Mother Bear.”
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On the way to the port, Claire clapped his hands and waited until all eyes in the command centre were on him before he barked.
“Listen up, elites of the First Military Academy. This will be your first mission since enrollment. See that abandoned planet below us? The fleet has forced a group of galactic pirates to land there. Eliminate them!”
Ye Yun observed the instructors intently. He loudly asked.
“Instructor, is this warship ours to use?”
As soon as he asked this question, the rest of the students gradually quieted down. A faint smile surfaced on Claire’s face.
“Of course. I just lifted all restrictions on the ship.”
“Is the test starting now?”
“Yes, it’s started. From now on, Instructor Aaron and I won’t be offering you any more help.”
Claire walked over to Aaron and stood in the corner with him.
Ye Yun turned around and raised his arms so that everyone could see him.
“Listen up, we are all elites of the First Military Academy here. That group of galactic pirates are nothing but rabble! No matter how many they number or how many warships they possess, they had been forced to crash land on the planet’s surface so their ships are as good as done. On the contrary, we have a well-equipped warship! This is our chance to prove ourselves!”
Claire watched the freshmen who were originally just looking at one another gradually settle down to discuss the division of labour. He chuckled lowly.
“Lucky little guys. All they need to do is conduct a burst of bombardment using the warship to settle things. We might be heading back rather quickly, perhaps even today. How come we weren’t so fortunate back then?”
The experiential learning opportunity was different every year. The most gruesome one involved an actual firefight with galactic pirates. The counselling centre was booked full that month.
Aaron kept his head tilted, looking out of the warship.
“We’ve arrived in port.”
Just after entering the port, the lights in the command centre suddenly flickered a few times before going out entirely.
“What’s going on? Did someone touch something?”
“Is this a malfunction? But the landing obviously went well…”
“Is this part of the experiential learning opportunity??”
Claire frowned. This wasn’t part of their plan.
Aaron was the first to sense something wrong. He exclaimed.
“Quiet! All of you, stand still and don’t move! Don’t open the hatches!”
Aaron drew his dagger as he took a few steps forward. He leaned towards the hatch and got down on one knee.
Claire followed closely behind. Both closed their eyes and listened. Their eyes snapped open in unison after a beat.
“There are people outside forcing their way in. They’ve destroyed the external energy source, which caused the warship to automatically shut down.”
This was a common tactic employed by galactic pirates after intercepting starships. The Empire has been exterminating galactic pirates from the very beginning, and successive emperors have all kept the tradition alive. Thus, the military was very familiar with these foes of theirs.
“Has anyone tried contacting the main fleet or the port?!”
“We just tried the main fleet but the signal was intercepted. Trying the port now… It connected? I’ll tune in.”
There was a harsh burst of static from the other side, but no voices.
The sound gradually became a little clearer. There seemed to be a lot of people yelling.
[…Kill them all! Cut off their heads and mount them on the flag!]
Then there was a man’s voice.
[Hear that, dogs of the Empire?! I’ll cut off your heads and take all of you down with us! Wait, aren’t they using us as practice for the freshmen? The twerps aren’t even adults yet, are they? I’m going to flay their tender skins off and drape them across that warship of yours!]
No one spoke. Ye Yun turned off the comms.
“This doesn’t make sense. Why would they do something as meaningless as occupying the port? Unlike starships, warships aren’t that easy to dismantle. We can still start the ship by force.”
Ye Yun frowned. This didn’t make any sense at all. Despite the pirates’ main goal obviously being to use them as hostages to secure an escape route, they immediately resorted to provocations instead. It was almost like they were trying to force them to restart the warship.
At this time, the emergency power automatically turned on. The whole hall lit up.
Aaron and Claire exchanged a look.
“There’s a Level S among them. They want to steal the warship.”
Only after the warship was started again could psychic power be used to invade and overtake it.
“An obvious trap, but we have no choice but to jump in. After the ship is started, we’ll have about 20 seconds before the pirate’s psychic power can assume full control.”
They could either stay put, wait for the warship to be dismantled and then go head-to-head with the galactic pirates, or take the safer route and start the warship themselves in order to descend onto the planet surface.
The choice was obvious. Although Ye Yun just delivered an impassioned speech, both he and the other students understood deep down that freshmen like them who had yet to reach maturity were no match for the vicious galactic pirates.
“I can only hope they’ll leave these children alone after they capture the warship.”
Claire came to a decision with Aaron.
“Hear that, you unlucky bastards?! Put on your landing gear and jump as soon as we leave port! This time it’s for real. Change of objective, survive!”
Everyone scrambled to get their landing gear on.
Ye Yun pulled Ye Muo over and helped him put everything on before doing the same for himself. Aaron and Claire were also among the last ones to start.
Ye Yun took out one of the syringes at his waist and exchanged it with one in Ye Muo’s pack. He put it in the spot reserved for emergency medications.
“This is from Father. If you feel unwell, inject this. I’ll keep the rest with me.”
Finally, he pushed Ye Muo over to Zhou Ran.
“Stay with your friends.”
He glared at Ye Muo.
“Jump down as soon as the airlock opens. If you encounter a pirate on the surface, run if you can. If you can’t? Don’t hold back.”
Ye Muo was a little uneasy. He seemed to want to say something, but he obeyed Ye Yun’s orders in the end. He was used to being told what to do like this.
“Got it, Big Brother.”
Meanwhile, Aaron sat in front of the control console and input his psychic power into it. Claire was down on one knee beside him, gripping the edge of the console with one hand and Aaron’s ankle with the other.
A battle between psychic powers was imminent, so the starship would become very unstable.
The students stood in place, stewing in fear and uncertainty. They looked at one another after seeing what the instructors were up to. Ye Muo stood among them. He could even hear someone’s quiet sobs.
Ye Yun and his group moved first. They walked out of the crowd and headed straight to Aaron’s side. Drawing the guns at their waists in unison, they got down on one knee just like Claire.
Ye Yun grabbed Aaron’s other ankle.
Aaron glanced down at him.
Ye Yun did not even raise his head.
“Class A goes first on principle, no? After receiving so much preferential treatment on the regular, it’s time like these where we need to put in some extra effort.”
The school did have a rule like that. Class A’s uniform was conspicuously white for a reason. They were supposed to be the leaders, the ones required to be on the frontlines at all times.
But requiring that of them at a time like this was almost too cruel.
Aaron saw a boy beside Ye Yun quietly put his hands behind his back. The hand he was holding his gun with was trembling minutely.
“No need. You’ll only get in the way.”
A girl kicked that boy. “Don’t cause a misfire. I’ll beat you up if you do.”
The boy immediately stopped shaking.
“Don’t order us around. I’m the leader here, instructor.”
Ye Yun gave a cold snort.
Aaron would need to directly face off against the other party’s psychic power later on. The difference between Level S and A was significant. It was a battle he was fated to lose.
“Instructors, if we delay any longer, the warship will be completely dismantled.”
They all knew very well that 20 seconds was not enough for everyone to jump out.
Claire barked orders to the crowd still gathered in the command centre.
“Get out, all of you! Wait at the airlock and jump as soon as they open! If you don’t make it, hide somewhere close by!”
When only he, Claire and Ye Yun’s group were left in the room, Aaron first closed off all access hatches, completely sealing off the command centre.
The roar of the starship starting up could be heard. The starship swayed violently for some time, coming to a stop as soon as it left the port.
Beads of sweat quickly emerged on Aaron’s forehead. He grimaced in pain. The starship was shaking erratically, making it difficult to even walk.
The airlock quickly opened. Students jumped down in batches like dumplings. When only 10% of the students were left, the exit suddenly closed. The starship also stabilised and returned to port.
Finally, the access hatches leading to the command centre all opened automatically. Control had been seized.
“Everyone, disperse!”
Aaron had collapsed in front of the console. Ye Yun left two people to cover him as he tightened his grip on his gun. Standing up, he quickly pressed his back to the wall and guarded one of the passages.
The sound of approaching footsteps grew clearer and clearer.
Ye Yun stared fixedly at the passage.
The hatch leading to the passage suddenly closed again, lockly tightly. Several others followed suit.
The faint sound of yelling and cursing came from behind the hatch.
“What the hell! Why did you suddenly close the hatches again? Is it under your control or not, you idiot?!”
Ye Yun was momentarily stunned.
……
Ye Muo stood at the airlock, which was actually in the central part of the warship. It opened on the floor so you just needed to jump down.
The few students that didn’t manage to make it like Ye Muo all followed the instructor’s orders and hid.
One was in the storage room, two in the ventilation duct, and in the rooms…
Ye Muo instinctively knew all this because his psychic power was relaying it back to him as it instinctively flowed through the entire warship, gently covering all its contents. He could even sense two other psychic powers. The very weak one by the control centre’s interface belonged to the instructor, while the other one in slightly better shape belonged to a redheaded man.
If someone was here to witness this, they would certainly be shocked into silence. How much power and finesse was required for this degree of exact control?
Ye Muo’s senses had sharpened a lot as well, but his emotions were blunted by an equal measure. Countless data flowed into his mind, which was clear like never before. All his fear, worry, and everything else seemed to be infinitely diluted. Was this the sensation of using psychic power his teachers described before?
Many people had entered the warship.
One came upon him. The pirate laughed uproariously when he spotted Ye Muo and pointed his gun at the boy.
“Looks like there’s a son of a bitch scared stiff over here.”
“How unsightly.” Ye Muo thought as he stood his ground.
“I’ll break your arms and legs! Make sure to cry loud for me, boy.”
The galactic pirate drew closer. When he got a good look at Ye Muo, his eyes became bloodshot. He licked his lips.
“I’ll give you one chance. Get down on your knees and cry in my bed.”
Ye Muo looked at him quietly and extended his hand, his fingers mimicking the shape of a gun. He tilted his head a fraction and softly said.
“Bang.”
Why is my baby Ye Muo suddenly so cool!!!!
+1 can’t take it, he’s so cool and adorable at the same time! QAQ
+1
Aaah, it reminds me to Inuyashiki
I finger gun kill you. Bang! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
Awesome!
Thanks for the chapter!
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
i was rather tense until Ye Muo at the end there akdbakxhs
YE MUO YOU’RE SOOO COOL!!!! 😍I lovr characters like this
Bang! And we died of cuteness
Aaaaa that was such a cool move! ><
Bang huh ? Who forgot this li’ll cute devil here?
Somehow he went from cute to cool 🤣🤣
hehehe! pop off bestie