Chapter 24: ; The New Batch of 'Leeks' … Children

Cloud Transport Airport.

Mo Fan carried a huge parcel, taller than himself by over a meter, and behind him he also pulled a small cart piled another one or two meters high; beside him followed a woman in her forties holding a big bundle and a small bundle, and those who didn't know would think they were fleeing famine.

Following behind Mo Fan was naturally his mother, and these big and small bundles were all the possessions this family could bring.

Not long ago happened to be the day when the World Tree jointly held a martial artist examination with other major organizations, and Mo Fan also took advantage of this opportunity, using the token given to him by a senior by the roadside to join the World Tree.

The reason he chose this moment to join was that Mo Fan was also harboring a little scheme of his own.

As everyone knows, the World Tree has its own base and martial artist cultivation mechanism, so members who join the World Tree have the opportunity to go to its internal cultivation base for training; besides that, for members' convenience, they are also given the chance to bring their immediate family to settle there.

The World Tree's cultivation is now universally recognized as surpassing the Two Great Martial Halls; Mo Fan naturally did not want to miss out, and since he and his mother had no other ties, of course they chose to move together.

As for why he didn't immediately go apply, but instead chose to catch this martial artist examination to join the World Tree, it was of course so he could get into the same batch.

No matter where, connections are important; I myself don't care too much, but for my mother to suddenly leave her current living environment would indeed cause many difficulties adjusting. If we catch this martial artist examination and board the same flight, as members of the same batch of martial artists and their families, both the flight and subsequent arrangements will be together, making it easy to mix in and make friends.

"Hello, I'm Mo Fan, here to report."

At the front desk of the World Tree Relocation Report Desk, a fair-skinned and beautiful receptionist called up Mo Fan's information via the front desk tablet.

"Hello, Mr. Mo Fan, please show your identification to confirm the reservation."

Mo Fan raised his right hand, still holding a small bag, but fortunately the smart wristwatch provided by the World Tree had many operation modes—it could be controlled by touch or voice—and Mo Fan spent a few hours studying it before he figured it out.

"Basic information popped up."

Saying that, the smart wristwatch projected a blue beam upward, forming a three-dimensional display showing Mo Fan's avatar and basic information.

"All right, Mr. Mo Fan, welcome aboard Cloud Transport Flight 100086; please hand over your checked luggage to the service department on the left for safekeeping, the flight is still waiting for other passengers, please follow service staff 12138 to the cabin."

Cloud Transport, Mo Fan had only heard of it in passing; it's said its transport efficiency has surpassed that of the major companies, but among the public it isn't particularly famous, because Cloud Transport's passenger service is open only to World Tree personnel and handles all of the World Tree's internal transport business.

Walking out from one side of the report desk was also a beautiful girl from a year ago.

"Please come this way, both of you."

Mo Fan and his mother followed closely behind.

Whether it was Mo Fan or his mother, it was their first time receiving such service; they seemed a bit restrained, didn't exchange a word along the way, and soon arrived at the aircraft.

This flight is specially chartered to carry the martial artists recruited in this martial artist examination; the aircraft model isn't large, and the cabin is only about forty to fifty meters long.

Following Jingjing into the aircraft, just a few steps brought us to the cabin seats—genuine leather sofas to sit on, crystal dining tables, and ultra‑large LCD screens for watching TV or games; the seats for just the two of them were already more spacious than Mo Fan's living room.

After greeting the two and having them sit down.

"From now on I am your dedicated attendant; you can call me 12138 or add me as Jingjing, and if you need anything during this flight, just let me know."

"First, today's lunch; since our flight time is from noon to three p. m. today, a special lunch will be served on board, and because you didn't note any preferences in your earlier reservation, you can now order your meal and we will prepare it in advance."

"If you have no specific requests, we also provide a menu here."

Mo Fan and his mother had never enjoyed such service before, and they hadn't yet gotten used to it.

And Jingjing simply waited quietly at the side.

After a while, Mo's mother softly asked:

"Do we have to pay extra for meals here?"

……

Mo's mother wasn't a very shy person, but entering this environment for the first time she was certainly somewhat ill at ease, so Mo Fan simply walked around the cabin by himself.

The flight's departure time was noon plus a little while, but because it was a dedicated apron, the aircraft was essentially the waiting lounge, and the environment was no worse than any high‑end restaurant.

As the departure time approached, quite a few people had already boarded the plane—people who had the opportunity to relocate to the World Tree, many martial artists bringing their families, and several were chatting in the central hall.

"Hey, isn't that Mo Fan? What are you doing here?"

A muscular man half a head taller than Mo Fan exclaimed in surprise to him.

This man was called Jiang Zhou, also an advanced student of the Thunder Martial Hall, and now he should be a full‑fledged martial artist.

"Brother Jiang, guess what."

"Hahaha, you little brat, you really did it—silently snagging a World Tree recruitment slot!" Jiang Zhou said, slamming Mo Fan's shoulder hard.

"Come on, let me introduce you: this is a little genius of this year's Thunder Martial Hall cohort; if he weren't still young he could also have qualified for a special recruitment slot in the Thunder Martial Hall, but I never expected he'd beat me to joining the World Tree—hahaha!"

No matter which faction, those who are specially recruited are all extraordinarily talented; the martial artists didn't look down on Mo Fan just because he hadn't yet passed the martial artist examination, and they all came over to chat.

"I'm Xiang Dajiang; from now on we're brothers in the World Tree."

"Yang Yuan."

"I'm Zhang Fei; Mo Fan, you little brother, are really impressive—I've heard that in our Jiangnan City this time there are only three special recruitment slots total, and I've already heard a bit about the first two, and they're real tough nuts, so I imagine Mo Fan isn't simple either; please bear with me in the future."

……

After everyone had introduced themselves, they also started chatting about random topics, and following Zhang Fei's lead they came to talk about the World Tree's three special recruitment slots.

"Speaking of which, Brother Zhang Fei, you said the three people for the special recruitment slots—who are they?"

"The first one is someone we just met—Mo Fan brother; before this we had only heard of that report information, but we never imagined Mo Fan brother would be specially recruited even though he isn't yet a martial artist; the second one is actually no stranger to us—do you remember who got first place in this practical combat examination?"

"That guy—I never expected our batch to have him… I heard that this cohort's pass rate has been greatly affected by him; some lucky folks followed behind him, picked up the scraps, and passed the examination outright."

"I heard he wielded that long spear, striking down blow after blow from the east lane of the small town all the way to East Penglai Road, without blinking an eye."

"There's no way that many; I heard his score was only four or five hundred, just one or two times more than Luofeng behind him… right"

Although it's a bit sour, talking about being just one or two times better feels somewhat powerless.

"You know what? It's because he was aiming for killing efficiency; many monster spoils weren't picked up in time, and according to my inside tip, he killed at least a thousand monsters in a single night."

The well‑informed Zhang Fei retorted.

Beside him, Mo Fan also swallowed, according to the information he'd gotten online, the income from slaying even the lowest‑level monster is several thousand to tens of thousands, so a thousand of them… that would be at least hundreds of millions to billions of income.

Mo Fan sucked in a breath of cold air and then sheepishly asked: "Brother Zhang, you've said all that but never told me the name of this big shot."

"Uh, oh, I forgot that Little Mo didn't take the practical combat exam, so he doesn't know his name."

Jiang Zhou beside him added: "His name is Chen Chen, and like you he's only eighteen this year."

On the topic of Chen Chen, everyone chatted for a long while, and a martial artist from the Extreme Martial Hall ended up leaking more news about Chen Chen—Chen Chen also has a sought‑after female companion, Chen Chen and Luofeng come from the same branch hall, and all the major factions kept throwing olive branches at Chen Chen, only to discover he had already joined the World Tree, and so on and so forth.

A crowd of martial artists chatted with this teenage prodigy as if chasing stars, thoroughly enjoying themselves; later a few more people joined, and the waiter promptly brought out a table of fine wine and several side dishes, making everyone chat even more happily.

After chatting for a while, General Xiang again turned to Zhang Fei and asked:

Hey Brother Zhang, you said there were three spots total, what about the last one?

Oh, the last one is actually just like you—didn't take this practical exam, but probably not because they failed to meet the standard; it seems they were originally from the military side, their name is…

Ji Heng

Sorry, I'm a bit late.

Zhang Fei hadn't finished speaking when a female voice came from the other side; a beautiful woman with curled hair wearing a light yellow martial arts uniform walked in from the right of the cabin.

Hello, I'm Ji Heng.

How's it? I hope I didn't interrupt your chat. Ji Heng walked over, smiling slightly at the few people.

Ji Heng seemed like a carefree person; after greeting them, she chatted openly with the group of elders, but hadn't said a few words when the broadcast sounded twice.

Dear passengers, welcome aboard Cloud Middle Flight 10086; this flight's destination is Abundant Capital.

All flight passengers have arrived; it's now 11:59 AM, and Cloud Middle Flight 10086 is about to take off.

Mo Fan had never flown before and thought he needed to return to his seat; perhaps anticipating this, a flight attendant hurried over to explain.

Please rest assured, passengers; our Cloud Middle series passenger aircraft has an excellent balance system, so you won't feel any shaking inside the cabin.

In the cabin, many martial artists who shared Mo Fan's thoughts also steadied their minds.

Come to think of it, I haven't seen that number‑one you mentioned, huh?

Mo Fan was quite interested in the genius touted as the exam's top scorer by everyone; meeting such a future big shot through this opportunity would naturally be great.

Yeah, I haven't seen them either.

The plane's soundproofing is decent, but it's small enough that almost all the martial artists on board came over to introduce themselves, yet they still hadn't seen the rumored genius.

As for Ji Heng here, she knew more information than the average martial artist.

Of course you can't see them—that guy's already been recommended to the War God Training Camp.

But since we're heading to Abundant Capital this time, we happen to catch the latest quota competition.

What Ji Heng didn't say was:

And she, too, had come for this.

————

The flight of over two hours passed quicker than imagined, and the in‑flight meal was over before they knew it.

Mother Mo wasn't withdrawn either; soon she'd already gotten to know several aunties.

In social matters, Mom has always been Mo Fan's role model; taking this flight to expand his network was actually Mom's idea.

But the uncles and aunties Mom had just met were all older than her; after all, most of these martial artists were in their mid‑twenties or older, while she herself was only nineteen.

The only peer of her age, Ji Heng, came without any entourage; according to Elder Brother Zhang Fei, her background must be quite extraordinary.

We're about to arrive at our destination, Abundant Capital; please keep your belongings with you, no need to clean up any trash.

As the announcement ended, the cabin roof slid open to both sides, revealing a blue sky; warm sunlight gradually filled the cabin, drawing everyone's gaze toward the distance.

First to come into view was a towering tree far on the horizon, without any exaggeration.

The huge tree rose from the distant horizon, revealing sturdy, coiled roots; its towering trunk spread outward, draped in a faint haze, growing up to the vault of the sky, its green branches seeming to stretch toward endless space.

Is that… the World Tree?

Among the martial artists, someone unconsciously exclaimed in surprise.

Of course not—the World Tree is the organization's name; that thing connects humanity with the world and is the World Tree's most important existence—the Divine Tree Jian Mu.

Ji Heng among the people seemed quite knowledgeable about the World Tree, stepping forward to explain to everyone.

The gaze drifted back from the Divine Tree Jian Mu; across the endless plain there was air mixed with grass and flower fragrance, fields where bees and butterflies danced among flowers, soothing green meadows, rolling hills that blended with buildings, and towering trees almost as impressive as the Divine Tree Jian Mu, all while a refreshing breeze blew past.

Welcome to——Abundant Capital.

Leek……kids.

Cough cough, Chén Chén, who had come out to do a bit of business, almost blurted out his inner thoughts.