Chapter 700: Chapter 473: Sudden Assessment
(Sorry, sorry, this is the second update from yesterday. I went out to exercise last night, came back completely exhausted, and ended up falling asleep after writing 900 words for the second chapter.)
However, Mu Fan had no idea what Beret Uncle was thinking in his head, all that surfaced in his mind were these people’s names…code names.
Falcon, Tank, T-Rex, Yi, and Light Wave.
Mu Fan’s expression revealed confusion. Was it normal to address each other like this?
“Falcon Captain, I’d like to ask, don’t you all have names? Do you also call each other like this?”
“We do, but when serving in the S Squad, revealing real names is not allowed, only after retirement can you use your real name. So that Bald veteran scoundrel you saw, that’s his real name,” the middle-aged uncle chuckled.
“What’s Instructor Ruan’s code name?”
“Heh…Madman.” Falcon straightened his cap, a nostalgic look in his eyes.
“Let’s go, head up for the first stage of the assessment, the test on your body.”
Things were moving a bit beyond expectation; after the appearance of the warship named Flying Dragon, it was no longer possible for Mu Fan to continue with the banquet as planned.
It was only that Nuonuo said she was leaving Blue Capital Star on an interstellar cruise tonight.
This parting felt so rushed.
There were still so many things they hadn’t said to each other.
In the end, it was the mechanical expert, the inconspicuous and skinny Yi, who handed Mu Fan a pair of low-cut mechanical battle boots.
“Rocket Shoes, a trademark of the Flying Dragon crew, equipped with a unique Air Moon Sensing Chip that can automatically and precisely recognize your movements and provide corresponding feedback.”
When Mu Fan tried stepping into them, there was a click of buckles locking, and two silver boots covered his feet entirely.
Mu Fan tested the operating method Tank had shared with him in his booming voice; leaning forward, he focused his gaze on the ground, and with a light tap of his feet, he actually lifted off from the ground.
It was as if there were invisible steps in the air, and with one step, Mu Fan soared upwards as if he were climbing to the clouds.
The excitement of experiencing something new sent a thrill through Mu Fan’s brain, longing for equipment that could greatly spark his interest like this.
Riding the Rocket Shoes, he soared straight into the mother ship’s interior—it was simply too exhilarating.
With a swish, Mu Fan looked up to see Falcon push off with his feet and leap, as a pair of small mechanical wings popped out of his back, and he shot straight into mid-air.
“We’ll go ahead first,” Yi said to Mu Fan, smiling and waving.
Amid their laughter, Mu Fan saw the four of them emit a surge of blue particles from beneath their feet before shooting upwards.
“Why am I so slow?”
Seeing this group ascend together made Mu Fan feel uneasy.
“Because ours are Moon Step Shoes, they’re two levels higher than Rocket Boots,” Yi said, laughing joyously.
“Mu Fan, the first trial has begun—the defective Rocket Shoes don’t have an acceleration function. They’ll explode in 6 seconds with a bang. If you can reach the inside of the Flying Dragon landing platform in 6 seconds, then you survive. So, run!” The middle-aged uncle’s voice came from above.
“You madmen!”
Mu Fan glared at the shoes on his feet, having just stepped into the Rocket Shoes, he felt like he’d been sneakily taken advantage of by these people.
The pre-assessment had started, indeed, a bright glow shone in Mu Fan’s eyes.
In this moment, he instantly entered the Dark Breath state, with Ghost Energy covering both his brain and limbs.
All movements that could maintain his balance were etched into his mind.
He took the first step awkwardly, taking a full second, drawing laughter from the group.
With the second step, he covered a much larger distance, and his body was no longer shaking.
The third, the fourth…
By the fifth step, the group could no longer laugh, as Mu Fan began to run in the sky.
Bang, Bang, Bang!
Weak blue flames from beneath his feet formed a straight line. Mu Fan’s body miraculously maintained perfect balance in the air without any wobble.
His entire being sprinted through the air, his legs alternating in drumbeat-like taps, his figure became a blur as he swiftly charged toward the vast shadow in the sky.
Thump, with the final step, Mu Fan slightly exerted force with his right foot, completing a somersault in mid-air and landing firmly on the ground.
“Countdown 1, 0… Self-destruct sequence deactivated.”
Light Wave looked at the handheld light computer in his hands, his face filled with admiration. The reaction of this academy newcomer in the preliminary assessment had exceeded their expectations.
He covered two-thirds of the distance in the first two seconds, but in the last two seconds, it was as if he flew.
What did this mean?
It meant that Mu Fan’s physical response and learning ability under extreme conditions were even stronger than their set standard by half!
The faint black aura in Mu Fan’s eyes faded, and he lifted his head to look at the five people in front of him, showing an innocuous smile.
“Haha, welcome to the Flying Dragon! This is our home. We hope you can become one of us in the future!” Falcon spread his arms and embraced him.
Mu Fan instinctively wanted to dodge but couldn’t escape.
The man in the beret laughed heartily and patted Mu Fan on the shoulder, “Let’s go. There are some other guys on board; I’ll take you to meet them.”
Since entering the drop pod platform, Mu Fan had been sizing up the interior of the warship.
Before him were silver metallic platforms that seemed to be made of some aluminum alloy or titanium alloy. The impeccably clean interior was without a speck of dust, and not even the slightest noise could be heard.
The noise cancellation on the warship was surprisingly effective.
And while walking through, only then did he feel the enormity of the warship.
He followed Falcon and the others from the lowest drop pod deck upward toward the upper decks, passing through several huge compartments with a height of more than twenty meters, but thick metal doors blocked the view.
Noticing Mu Fan’s curious gaze, the beautiful woman known as “T-Rex,” who was code-named Dragon, pushed her plain wire frame glasses and said, “This is the mecha maintenance bay. What you see here belongs to that guy who always talks big, the one with the beret. Next up is Thunderhawk’s bay, but too bad the unreliable Baldy retired with the Thunderhawk.”
“Hey woman, why didn’t you run off with the Madman then? You two haven’t pierced that layer of paper for ten years, what are you playing at, some kind of platonic relationship? Or is it that the Madman simply doesn’t dare to touch a nuclear bomb of a woman like you, hahaha.”
Falcon stretched his neck and, without turning his head, called out loudly.
“Next time, I’ll make sure the bullet finds its way into that bird beak of yours.”
Suddenly, “Female Tyrannosaurus” took out a large ammunition handgun from her hand and fired at Falcon’s back.
Mu Fan’s eyes widened in shock because, somehow, a small handgun had appeared in Falcon’s hand.
Bang, bang!
After two sounds, the sound of metal rolling on the ground echoed.
Two bullets had precisely collided in mid-air and bizarrely deformed and fused together.
With a spin of the small handgun, it disappeared into Falcon’s hand as he continued speaking without turning back:
“Kid, you see that woman’s temper? So when she’s talking to you in a changed tone, that’s the real her.”
Turning the corner down the corridor, Mu Fan could already see a hydraulic door labeled as a core area.
He had wondered why the mature and beautiful female officer was so gentle toward him – it turned out she had such a relationship with Bald Ruan. At that thought, Mu Fan respectfully called out to the “T-Rex” on the other side:
“Dragon Aunt.”
The face of the previously furious beautiful female officer suddenly bloomed into a smile as bright as a flower, her eyes brimming with joy and affection. Without a word, she ruffled Mu Fan’s hair and said softly:
“Fan, for that ‘Dragon Aunt’ alone, no one on the Flying Dragon will bully you.”
Falcon ahead seemed to have stumbled on something and almost tripped.
The remaining three burst into hearty laughter.
Mu Fan didn’t refuse Dragon Aunt’s kindness; he just felt the atmosphere among this group was very good. Their unconstrained freedom and visible intimacy gave him a sense reminiscent of the time he joined the Tiger Hunting Team during his special training.
“We just passed through the non-core area; those chambers are only for the lowest-ranking soldiers.”
“Next is the core area of the warship, which is the true S Squad members. Our team’s chief strategist and the mothership’s weapons controller are inside. Hmm, everyone’s here. Seven people total, we hope you can become the eighth…”
After he finished speaking, a faint light swept across Falcon’s eyeballs, and the hydraulic door slowly lifted.
“Captain,” a soft voice like a drizzle sounded.
“Falcon, is this the one added to the assessment list?”
Mu Fan felt as though he was being targeted by a serpent lurking in the darkness, like a thorn in his back. Following that gaze, he saw a figure with short black hair that covered their eyebrows, tall and slender, wearing a mask painted with bloody teeth.
He was being scrutinized with a faint, probing look.