Chapter 3: Assessment of the Newborn!

Properly cleaned up, Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan were moved to a deluxe hospital room where Ling Qin had already set up a specialised instrument used to assess the various body stats and potential of infants.

"Mistress, allow me to examine the young master’s condition." In truth, Ling Qin was a little disappointed that the child was a girl. Even if Major General Ling Xiao’s premium military benefits were successfully inherited by the young miss, the Ling family would have no chance within this generation to obtain the strongest ultimate weapon which represented the Federation — just like the one Major General Ling Xiao had — the IN mecha!

The Federation’s law allowing only male relatives to inherit military honours and benefits, though seemingly biased, did in fact have some basis. Among all the functioning IN mechas, there was not a single one with a female operator.

The requirements to be an IN mecha operator were extremely high — not only did you need to have immense spiritual power, you also needed a strong and sturdy body. This was because the IN mechas were operated by a combination of willpower and body movement, which worked together to realise many extremely dangerous and complicated attacks and combat techniques. Depending on the power behind these movements, a fraction of the energy was reflected back to the operator. Without a strong body, an operator could be injured just by executing a single basic move.

The natural physical difference between men and women may not be noticeable with regular mecha, but it was glaringly obvious when it came to IN mecha. There wasn’t a single woman who could withstand that sort of recoil, even if she had trained up a muscular body. With regards to operating the IN mecha, the natural physical gap between the genders could not be eliminated by hard work.

Then let’s talk about those inherited military benefits. Those benefits actually referred to valuable resources being cultivated by the nation. The nation would invest vast amounts of money and manpower to nurture the designated inheritors of those military benefits. The grand goal was that these carefully cultivated candidates would be able to operate an IN mecha someday and become an ultimate weapon in service of the country.

Therefore, women, who could not operate IN mecha, had been directly cast aside by the Federation. As those politicians would say, they could not waste taxpayers’ money, right? And so this outright biased law which discriminated against women was officially ratified without facing any opposition from the general public.

Naturally, the present Ling Lan knew nothing of this. Right after her first two grand cries at her birth, she had jumped straight into training, because at the very moment she had entered the world, she had found that her sense of Qi had heightened even further, giving her an almost roiling sensation. Even if she had no idea what was happening, she instinctively knew that this was a golden opportunity that should not be missed, and so immediately entered a meditative state without regard to where she was.

Of course, Ling Lan was only so bold because she was an infant. Besides sleeping and eating, and eating and sleeping, she basically had nothing else to do. Even if she entered a training trance, outside observers would just assume she was sleeping, and would not be particularly worried. More importantly, from the words she had heard her mother speak at her birth, she knew that her mother in this life would make sure she was well-protected, which gave her the reassurance to just let go and focus on training.

Lan Luofeng carefully passed Ling Lan over into Ling Qin’s arms and watched as Ling Qin slowly placed Ling Lan into a transparent elliptical compartment.

The moment Ling Qin withdrew his arms, the transparent compartment sealed itself and beams of alternating green and red light swept across Ling Lan’s body.

Suddenly, the transparent compartment emitted a piercing warning whistle ——

"What’s going on?" Lan Luofeng sat up hurriedly in her bed. Her face, which was already pale due to her recent delivery, turned even paler in her fright and worry over her child.

Ling Qin was just as taken aback by this unexpected warning whistle. However, before Ling Qin could rush over to check, the warning whistle went silent, and the assessment resumed as normal.

Everyone was still alarmed and uncertain, but they did not dare to stop the assessment of Ling Lan and so continued to wait patiently.

Ling Lan was utterly oblivious to all of this — at that moment a childish voice in her mind was crowing gleefully, "Luckily I have quick reflexes, or else my host’s secret would have been revealed. When I greet the host later, I must get her to praise me well ... hehe!"

Finally, the assessment device started to report its findings.

Assessment data:

Physical Fitness: [S] rank!

Spiritual Power: Tier-2!

Potential: [S] rank!

Assessment overview: Excellent; focused cultivation recommended.

Ling Qin was astounded by these results. In disbelief, he rushed over to take a closer look at the copy of the results printed out by the machine.

The results were clearly printed out in black and white, proving that he had not misheard.

[S] rank physical fitness was rare even among male infants, appearing at a rate of 1 or 2 in a thousand. Of course this wasn’t the most extreme case, for Ling Lan’s father, Ling Xiao, had been a gifted genius born with a physical fitness of [SS] rank, which occurred at a rate of 1 in several ten thousand. Ling Qin suspected that Ling Lan’s good physical fitness must have been inherited from her father.

Even more surprising, Ling Lan possessed natural tier-2 spiritual power. This meant that Ling Lan would have a natural advantage in mental training, a situation which only occurred at a rate of 1 in several ten thousand individuals ...

Deeply moved, Ling Qin shivered. Even Ling Lan’s father, the Major General Ling Xiao, had only possessed tier-1 spiritual power at birth.

[S] rank potential — the same basic assessment as Major General Ling Xiao. Major General Ling Xiao was the operator of an IN mecha ... does that mean that their young miss Ling Lan might also be able to operate an IN mecha?

An IN mecha operator ... Ling Qin’s shivers intensified at the thought, and he almost burst into tears. Could it be that the Ling family would produce the first female IN mecha operator?

If that happened, it would truly be a slap in the face to all those federalists!

Although Lan Luofeng was also shocked by the results of Ling Lan’s assessment, she was at heart a mother, and her first thought was how she could protect her child. Solemnly, she said, "Uncle Qin, Ling Lan’s assessment results must be sealed."

If Ling Lan’s assessment were to be made public, the nation would certainly suggest taking her in for intensive cultivation. If Ling Lan were a boy, Lan Luofeng would have been fine with that. However, Ling Lan was a girl, and Lan Luofeng would not see her daughter suffer that life. Also, if the nation were to decide to send over specialised trainers instead, the secret of Ling Lan’s gender would also be easily exposed. Thus, Lan Luofeng was determined that Ling Lan’s assessment be sealed.

Actually, even before Ling Lan was born, Lan Luofeng had already decided that she would let Ling Lan live as she pleased. She did not really want Ling Lan to follow in her father’s footsteps and become part of the military. Lan Luofeng knew very well that as long as Ling Lan did not commit any major crime such as treason, she would be able to live off of the premium military benefits earned by Ling Xiao’s sacrifice the way she wanted without worry. Even if Ling Lan wanted to live like a rich wastrel, Lan Luofeng would not object.

Lan Luofeng looked upon Ling Lan in the device with loving yet remorseful eyes and thought, "Sorry, baby Ling Lan, for making you live an abnormal life ... It’s because you are Ling Xiao’s daughter, and I will not permit anyone other than you to enjoy the privileges your father’s sacrifice have gained.

"But you are also my daughter, and I love you, so I selfishly do not wish for you to bear the burdens of the Ling family. In the future, I won’t go out of my way to raise you in any specific way — you will be free to choose whichever path you’d like. Even if you end up being a wastrel, mummy will always support you."

It must be admitted that Lan Luofeng had the makings of an irrationally protective mother — if Ling Lan were to wish for the destruction of the Ling family in the future, Lan Luofeng may even help draw up the plans with full enthusiasm.

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