Chapter 1 The Beginning

May 26th, Qingdao Liuting International Airport.

Inside the waiting room, a youthful and beautiful sight attracted the attention of many travelers.

It was a team of nearly twenty people, dressed in uniform clothing like the surrounding tour groups.

But unlike the elderly tourists, this special team wore red and white national team uniforms.

Those also wearing the red and white national team uniforms, but slightly older, were obviously teachers, team leaders, and other staff. Among them were certainly strong individuals, but they had learned to restrain their sharp edges over the years.

In comparison, these ten valiant and extraordinary young people became the focus of everyone's attention.

Any one of them alone would be a top choice, let alone all ten together?

The sound of camera shutters clicked incessantly, and some travelers even started live broadcasts, aiming at the faces of the trainees and taking pictures.

Hou Mingming sat on a chair, bending over with her head lowered, elbows resting on her knees, palms supporting her forehead, looking as if she was trying hard to endure something. She had been sitting there for half an hour.

Hou Mingming had keen senses, and she had already heard many middle-aged women commenting on her, and what annoyed Hou Mingming was that she even heard comments like "their next generation of babies will definitely be healthy."

Wu Xiaojing pulled her baseball cap down over her face and said helplessly, "Why do we have to leave from Qingdao? Why can't we go to the VIP lounge? Why can't we charter a plane? Why do we have to be treated like pandas here..."

Yu Jin, who was next to her, said, "Because it's cheaper."

"It's cheaper to go to Nihong from Shanghai, isn't it?" Wu Xiaojing replied subconsciously, but suddenly felt something was wrong.

She took off her hat and realized it was Yu Jin from the same city who was speaking. Wu Xiaojing's expression immediately turned sour, and she directly retorted in her local dialect, "Xi kai, me bang nong gang xian hua." (Go away, I'm not talking to you.)

"Hmph." Yu Jin snorted, "Was I talking to you?"

Jiang Xiao's faint singing voice floated over: "What I miss is being able to talk about everything, what I miss is dreaming together, what I miss is even after arguing, still having the urge to love you..."

Yu Jin: ???

Wu Xiaojing: ???

The two of them turned their heads in a daze and saw Jiang Xiao resting his elbows on his knees, supporting his chin with one hand, looking at the ground with unfocused eyes, singing a sad love song.

Finally, one of the middle-aged women took action! She brought her phone and photos, ready for a matchmaking session!

But the target was not Hou Mingming, nor the beautiful Wu Xiaojing, but the gentle and quiet Xin Ai'an...

"Huh?" Hou Mingming suddenly turned her head, startling the people around her.

Trainees with perception-type star techniques also turned to look, and along with them, everyone looked towards the entrance. The next moment, another large team walked in, wearing the same red and white national team uniforms.

To the surprise of all the travelers, the atmosphere in the waiting hall suddenly changed.

Although both teams were wearing the national team's red and white uniforms, the atmosphere was tense, with the two sides facing each other from a distance.

Since the other side was the national team members for the team competition, with as many as 5 teams, they had the advantage in numbers, but in terms of momentum, the national team members for the individual competition were not inferior in the slightest.

The slightly noisy waiting hall suddenly fell silent, and the voices of the middle-aged women's discussions also stopped. The leaders of the two teams quietly stood between the two teams, to avoid any conflict.

These kids were all elites, and not stupid, so of course they wouldn't make any low-level mistakes here.

However, the characteristics of the Star Warrior profession filled them with competition and a desire to fight.

The two teams had fought and sparred all the way in their respective teams, and finally determined the rankings. After nearly a month of getting to know each other, they could at least be considered united within their respective teams, at least on the surface.

But when it came to outsiders...

Not to mention two different competition formats within the same national team, Hou Mingming and Wu Yao were even from the same school, but that didn't stop them from provoking and demonstrating against each other.

Both sides were the best of their peers, and the fighting genes flowing in their blood made it impossible for them to be friendly.

Whoosh!

Everyone only felt a blur before their eyes,

Jiang Xiao instantly appeared in front of Han Jiangxue, passed his hands under her armpits, and lifted her up!

In an instant, the faces of the team competition national team members changed slightly.

Instantaneous movement! Gap of Time and Space!

This magical star technique, even if they were fortunate enough to have seen it, or even seen it many times, they would never get used to it.

"Awesome! I knew you could do it!" Jiang Xiao held up Little Jiangxue and even happily spun around in circles.

Kisses, hugs, and lift her up high!

Jiang Xiao's face was about to move closer, but Han Jiangxue pressed her hand against his forehead, keeping his head away: "Put, put me down..."

Although Han Jiangxue's expression was cold, her heart was actually filled with joy at their reunion. However, Jiang Xiao's actions shattered her joy, and she couldn't wait to kick him in the butt.

How old are you? Huh?

Still lifting her up high and spinning around in circles?

So many people are watching!

"Uh..." Jiang Xiao held up Han Jiangxue, trying hard to move closer, but Han Jiangxue pressed her hand on his face, keeping his head far away.

Helpless, Jiang Xiao had no choice but to put her down.

Damn it!

The order was wrong!

Kisses, hugs, and lift her up high, of course, you have to kiss her first!

After hugging and lifting her, and then going in for a kiss, she already reacted...

This is the same principle as petting a cat, either you look at the master's mood, or you have to be unexpected and seize the opportunity...

"Yo! Little Pi! Long time no see!" He Xu put a hand on Jiang Xiao's left shoulder and patted him as if to comfort him.

Beside him, Song Chunxi reached out and patted Jiang Xiao's right shoulder, smiling sweetly and gently: "Little devil, your conspiracy failed, right?"

Han Jiangxue: "Go sit over there."

Jiang Xiao: "Huh?"

Han Jiangxue gestured to an empty seat in the distance: "I'll chat with you."

"Ah oh!" Behind her, Wu Yao rubbed her neat short golden hair, "Someone's going to get scolded. (Russian)"

"Stop talking, you reek of smoke. We still have to wait a few hours, can you hold back your nicotine addiction? (Russian)" Jiang Xiao very shrewdly reminded Wu Yao of her need for nicotine, and then took the opportunity to slip away while Wu Yao was stunned.

A few seconds later, Wu Yao raised her eyebrows, and a pair of clear blue eyes sparkled with coldness as she stared at Jiang Xiao, but couldn't help but smack her lips and reached into her pocket for a cigarette...

But Song Chunxi grabbed Wu Yao's wrist with one hand, with a look of reproach on her face: "You just finished smoking."

Wu Yao looked uncomfortable and smacked her lips again, unable to resist looking around.

Song Chunxi knew that she was looking for a smoking room.

Jiang Xiao's actions completely dispelled the tense atmosphere between the two teams.

Wu Xiaojing clicked her tongue in wonder and whispered, "No wonder he's the social butterfly of the Imperial Capital."

Xin Ai'an: "Pfft..."

Wu Xiaojing turned her head and saw Xin Ai'an giggling.

Xin Ai'an got up and sat over, seemingly intentionally avoiding the middle-aged women's "photo kill," and moved closer to Wu Xiaojing, her voice ethereal: "Why a social butterfly?"

Although they were the same age, Xin Ai'an's petite appearance always made Wu Xiaojing feel like she was a little sister. Wu Xiaojing couldn't help but smile and said, "No matter how strong someone is, no matter how difficult they are to get along with, he can handle them. That fierce Xing Yan, that arrogant Hou Mingming, and even that taciturn Xie Yan, Little Pi can talk and laugh with them..."

Yu Jin nodded in agreement: "He'd be a good captain."

"Him as captain?" Zhao Wenlong, sitting in the back row, said with his thermos cup in hand, "He's afraid he'll lead our entire team astray."

"Hoo..." Old cadre Zhao Wenlong blew on his tea, his lips approaching the thermos cup, "Slurp... ha..."

The national team members on this side were joking and teasing, which could be considered quite harmonious. Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue were sitting in a corner, quietly reporting the situation of this mission to Han Jiangxue.

After all, it was a special military operation, so Jiang Xiao didn't say too much specifically, just simply stating that he had gone to Kang Ke Jinde to help the locals destroy Sacred Ruins and the like.

Jiang Xiao leaned close to Han Jiangxue's ear and whispered, "Hey, by the way, I seized a bunch of gold-quality star beads here. They're unique to the Dark Temple Other Dimension Space in Kang Ke Jinde, star beads of the Shadow Crow creatures. Are you interested?"

Han Jiangxue's voice was also very small, after all, there were many people here, and she said, "The star bead that can transform into a crow?"

"Yeah." Jiang Xiao thought for a moment and said, "One star technique is summoning a flock of crows, the second star technique is making the flock of crows explode, and the third star technique is transforming into a crow and hiding in the flock of crows."

Han Jiangxue shook her head and said, "It's very tempting, but I don't have enough star slots. I only have one usable star slot left. Do you think I should absorb it?"

Jiang Xiao could pick up a star bead and absorb all the star techniques inside, and even upgrade them.

But others were different. The norm was to absorb one star technique from it. Even if Han Jiangxue was extremely talented and extremely compatible with fire, so far, she only had one fire summoning star bead that had absorbed a one-star double technique.

Jiang Xiao nodded: "Forget it, it's too flashy, it's suitable for Xia Yan, so don't learn it. Using explosive output to push straight through is stronger than anything else. By the way, where's Xia Yan?"

Han Jiangxue whispered, "She's at school, but in order to cooperate with this World Cup, the school will end the courses early in early June. About a week later, she said she would come to the scene to cheer us on."

Jiang Xiao grinned: "She's cheering for you, right."

Han Jiangxue glared at Jiang Xiao and changed the subject: "The teachers gave me some star technique options. They mean that my upgrading to the Star Sea stage is a certainty, it's just a matter of time, so there's no rush to absorb a star pet. The last star slot can be used to absorb a star technique first."

"Ah?" Jiang Xiao blinked, "To deal with this World Cup? It's not impossible, but the question is, what star technique should you absorb?"

Han Jiangxue hesitated for a moment and said, "They said that I lack a continuous, large-scale output star technique, such as Skyfall Meteor Fire, Lightning Storm, and the like."

Jiang Xiao "hmph"ed: "Don't listen to them. What do you need a large-scale output for in a four-person team PK? Wait until you really join the army later. What you need now is instantaneous movement, a star technique to enter and escape the battlefield."

The corners of Han Jiangxue's mouth raised slightly, with a hint of her unique pride: "I've participated in so many competitions of all kinds and seen countless powerful Star Warriors. There are very few people with space-enclosing star techniques, and instantaneous movement star techniques..."

Jiang Xiao: "Hmm?"

Han Jiangxue: "There's only you."

Looking at her smiling face, Jiang Xiao also smiled and took out a silver-white ribbon from his pocket: "Of course, there's only me."

Han Jiangxue glanced at the hair tie in his hand, hesitated, and turned her back.

Jiang Xiao grabbed the black hair tie that held her ponytail and directly pulled it off.

She couldn't help but shake her head from side to side.

Wow!

Her dark long hair fell down, flowing like a waterfall, cascading like ink, and her black hair was like silk.

Jiang Xiao brushed the long hair in front of his eyes and whispered, "Should I tie it high or low?"

Han Jiangxue lowered her eyes and whispered, "Whatever."

Jiang Xiao whispered, "Then let's tie it high. I'll tie you a sky-piercing braid!"

Han Jiangxue: ???