Inside the Head of Training Department's office in the Training Department building at Seven Luminaries Academy's training base, a middle-aged man and a sturdy young man of seventeen or eighteen sat at a tea table, talking.
"Knight, what have you made of Seven Luminaries over the past couple of days?" the middle-aged man asked the young man across from him with the fond smile of an elder looking at a younger relative. Though he was merely sitting there, every movement carried a distinctly military air.
The young man called Knight looked a little impatient, but since he was talking to an elder, he kept his tone in check. "In one word: boring. Dull as hell!"
"Seven Luminaries isn't a military academy, after all. They can't have the students handling firearms and armor all the time. And even when they do, the training exercises won't involve that much firepower. The training platform on the Seven Luminance Net is pretty good, though." The middle-aged man admitted there were some things he couldn't do anything about and could only sympathize.
"But it's still not real. Facing a real gun barrel feels different from facing a simulated one. And the people here are hopelessly out of shape!" Knight looked thoroughly contemptuous. He'd fought a few upperclassmen over the past couple of days. A few had been passable, but only just. None had impressed him enough to take them seriously. If he wanted to improve his combat skills, he'd have to train with people from the Training Department. Some people in the Training Department and Security Team had been transferred from the Star System military. Soldiers were different from students—their murderous air in combat thrilled Knight.
"This isn't a military academy, after all..." The middle-aged man had no idea how many times he'd said that over the past couple of days. He was at a loss. "Why don't you admit you were wrong to your dad? We could arrange for you to transfer to a military academy in the C Star Zone while there's still time. You haven't even enrolled here yet."
"No way! I'd rather be bored here until graduation than admit I was wrong. Besides, I didn't do anything wrong! Those guys deserved to get beaten! They were asking for it!" Whenever Knight brought it up, a fierce air rose around him. All he'd done was beat up a bunch of noisy, show-off rich brats. If he saw them again, he'd do it all over again.
The middle-aged man smiled wryly. Those father and son were so alike. Once their stubborn streak kicked in, it was hard to change their minds. He was just about to say something when his communicator suddenly rang. He gestured for Knight to wait, then checked the number. He didn't recognize it, and it wasn't a video call, just audio. Wondering who it could be, Huoding picked up the communicator and spoke with the authority of the Head of Training Department. "This is Huoding."
"Little Ding..."
The moment Huoding heard that voice, he sprang up from his chair and snapped his feet together in a reflexive, textbook military stance. Then he barked a resounding, "Yes, sir!"
The shout nearly sent Knight tumbling out of his chair. His mouth fell open as he watched the man who'd just been acting like an elder stand ramrod straight, listening to the person on the other end of the communicator.
"Yes... All right, don't worry. I'll notify the Public Security Department to take action right away... Yes, I understand. Please rest assured... All right, take care!"
Only after the call ended did Huoding's taut body relax a little. His expression was bitter—far more so than when he'd been talking to Knight. And why had Old Master Mo changed his number again? To keep people from bothering him, Old Master Mo had been changing his Comms ID more and more often. With the new students arriving, there were probably more people than ever trying to visit him...
"Uncle Huo, what happened?"
"I'll tell you later!" Huoding had no time to explain. He turned and called the Security Team. They answered almost immediately.
"Huh? Ding, what do you need me for at this hour? Bored and looking for a fight?" the person on the other end teased.
Huoding ignored the teasing and said seriously, "Gerard, I just received a report. There's been a robbery at the Global Train Station in the Trade Zone. Two flying cars stole a student's bag while they were waiting for a train..."
Gerard couldn't help rubbing his forehead when he heard that. They usually couldn't be bothered with things like this. It was just students messing around with each other, almost never anything serious. They'd get over it soon enough. And all they'd stolen was a bag, not anything important. Besides, those rich kids who raced flying cars weren't short on money. But anyone who could get Huoding to mobilize the Security Team clearly had some pull. What annoyed Gerard was getting the Security Team dragged into a squabble between rich kids.
"Ding, just tell me—who reported it?"
"Me, and the father of your old superior, General Mo. Old Master Mo, the Vice Principal of Seven Luminaries..."
Before Huoding could finish, Gerard declared righteously, "To think someone would commit such a vile act as flying-car robbery in broad daylight! It's absolutely outrageous!"...
Huoding: "..."
After saying that, Gerard turned toward his men, who were practicing outside the window, and yelled, "You brats, fall in! We're heading out! The last one there gets stripped and sent running naked around the city!" Then he spoke into the communicator again. "Ding, tell Old Mo not to worry. We're heading out right now to teach those two brats a lesson!"
After ending the call, Huoding pressed a control button. A screen descended, and once he entered the coordinates, several images appeared. They showed Xilin riding his Flying Skateboard and the two flying cars, filmed from above, from the side, and head-on by satellites. Knight leaned in curiously to watch, too.
Between the Trade Zone and the entertainment district of the City That Never Sleeps was a stretch of uninhabited land. The endless green forest below rippled as the Red Yellow Blue Three Car Shadows raced past.
"Damn, that guy's been chasing us this long on that junky Flying Skateboard. What the hell's in the bag?" the person in the bright yellow flying car complained.
"Besides a newspaper, an Electronic Notebook, and clothes, it's all food. The clothes look pretty valuable, judging by the fabric, but there's nothing else worth much," said the person in the Crimson Flying Car, rummaging through Xilin's bag.
"Damn, he's chased us this far over that little bit of junk? What a hothead. I wonder how many High-Efficiency Energy Boxes he's burned through!"
He assumed Xilin had chased them for so long because he'd used High-Efficiency Energy Boxes.
"Exactly. Tch, chasing a flying car on a lousy skateboard? A hundred High-Efficiency Energy Boxes wouldn't help. The guy's got a screw loose!"
"Forget him. Speed up. He can't keep it up for much longer. Besides, that junky Flying Skateboard won't put much strain on the high-energy power boxes. It might explode if he keeps chasing us."
"Haha, that'd be a laugh. Let's wait and see that kid's Flying Skateboard blow up! Whoo!"
The two shouted cockily as they continued to accelerate.
Xilin narrowed his eyes and pressed down harder with his feet, angling his body to minimize air resistance. An invisible field around him split the air into a shuttle-shaped path. He had no goggles, but the speed didn't affect his vision at all.
With one sharp crack after another from the Flying Skateboard, Xilin seemed to merge with it. He shot forward like a blue tracking missile, fast and agile.
Xilin's mind calculated the other cars' speed, the force he needed to pedal, the number of strokes, and the Flying Skateboard's limits. The skateboard couldn't match the two flying cars' top speed on its own energy supply, so Xilin reduced the energy output and powered it by pedaling instead.
In the Training Department office, Huoding and Knight both stared at the screen.
"That kid's pretty impressive," Huoding remarked.
"He isn't using the Manual Control Rudder at all. He's controlling it entirely with his mind. The way he deftly dodges obstacles shows he has excellent mental control. And he's saving energy by diverting all the power that would normally go to the Manual Control Rudder to keep the Flying Skateboard in flight. If he started chasing them from the Trade Zone Train Station and has kept up this long without being left behind, he must have great stamina. And the distorted shockwaves when he pedals show he's very strong." By the time Knight finished speaking, a fierce fighting spirit had appeared in his eyes. "Who is he?" Someone like that couldn't be unknown.
Huoding entered a string of passwords and coordinates on another screen. By locating and identifying the Qiyao Card, he could confirm the cardholder's identity.
"Daongs Xilin? From the Daongs Family?"
Meanwhile, a Dedicated Passenger Flying Car traveling from the Trade Zone to the City That Never Sleeps in the entertainment district was cruising through the air. Several students were listlessly staring out at the endless green forest.
Suddenly, a student gazing out the window opened his eyes wider and wider. "Holy crap, is that guy riding a Flying Skateboard?!"
The people beside him looked out the window. Two flying cars and a Flying Skateboard in hot pursuit came into view, then quickly overtook their passenger car.
"Is that really a Flying Skateboard and not a plane?"
"Bullshit. Have you ever seen a plane shaped like a Flying Skateboard?"
"I think... maybe they're filming a Flying Skateboard commercial?" someone else suggested.
Someone looked around. "I don't see a film crew."
"If that really is a Flying Skateboard, I'm buying one. I just wonder what brand it is."
"No problem. I got a shot of it just now!"
Whatever the passengers on the flying car thought, Xilin only wanted to catch the two thieves on camera and get some compensation out of them. The Flying Skateboard might be ruined after this ride.
The two flying cars ahead accelerated again, and Xilin increased both the force and frequency of his pedaling. The sharp, pounding cracks of the Flying Skateboard were loud enough for everyone aboard the passenger car to hear clearly.
Before long, the Red Yellow Blue Three Car Shadows disappeared from the passengers' sight.
This wasn't good. The Flying Skateboard was nearing its limit. Xilin's mind raced as he calculated the angle and odds of success for his next move.
The two people chatting inside the flying car suddenly heard a boom behind them.
"Hah! It blew! That kid's Flying Skateboard blew up!"
The person in the red car grinned wildly and was about to turn around to look at the kid's miserable state when there was a sudden bang. His vision blurred, and the flying car hurtled out of control toward the ground.
The next moment came another bang. The bright yellow flying car was kicked away, tumbling through the air in an acrobatic roll.
Huoding and Knight, staring at the screen in the Training Department office, were both dumbfounded.
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