Chapter 501 Reunion
The semester ended, everyone went their separate ways, back to their own families.

Qin Wangchuan probably felt guilty towards the team, or perhaps he wanted to reward them. In any case, he didn't keep the trio in the Pioneer Army. Instead, he gave them a normal winter vacation, allowing them to go home for the New Year.

On the night of the award ceremony, the four-person team, along with Song Chunxi and He Xu, a senior student studying for his master's degree, gathered at a hot pot restaurant to celebrate.

The trio booked plane tickets for the next morning, and that night, they stayed at the Banshan Fenglin residential area.

Taking advantage of the alcohol, Jiang Xiao sat at the table, took out his certificate and the Pioneer · Spark Medal, took a photo, and sent it to Er Wei.

He attached a sentence: "Look what this is? (evil smile emoji)"

However, Er Wei was using a military brick-sized satellite phone while on a mission, and it wasn't the same number as her personal phone. He didn't know if she had her own phone with her, or if she would even receive it.

However, Jiang Xiao didn't close the door, and Han Jiangxue saw everything as she passed by. She stepped inside.

Jiang Xiao heard the sound, turned his head, wondering what Han Jiangxue wanted…

Han Jiangxue, however, came to the table and suddenly reached out, pointing to the words written above.

Jiang Xiao raised his eyebrows and began to read: "Comrade Jiang Xiaopi, courageous and tenacious in battle, resolutely carried out orders, exemplary in observing battlefield discipline, outstanding in completing combat missions, and made significant contributions, awarded the Spark Medal."

In his line of sight, Han Jiangxue's slender finger pointed to one of the sentences, sliding it left and right.

Jiang Xiao looked at the words she was pointing at and reread the sentence: "Exemplary in observing battlefield discipline..."

Han Jiangxue remained unmoved, tapping the certificate again, and pointing at the sentence again.

Jiang Xiao awkwardly scratched his head. Was she really going to hold that against him?

Under Han Jiangxue's cold gaze, after a long while, Jiang Xiao choked out a sentence: "Your hands are really beautiful."

Han Jiangxue: ???

Jiang Xiao looked up at Han Jiangxue and blinked.

Han Jiangxue's breath hitched slightly, her fair cheeks turning slightly red. She quickly retracted her hand, turned, and left, directly exiting his small bedroom.

Jiang Xiao grinned, put his feet on the table, and muttered to himself: "Trying to fight me? You're too green!"

Who could have thicker skin than him... uh, no, who could react faster than him?

The next morning.

Sunlight streamed through the window, shining on Jiang Xiao's face.

"Ugh..." Jiang Xiao mumbled, slowly waking up, rubbing his buzzing head. He sat up and cast a Blessing on himself, relieving the discomfort of being drunk.

"Hmm..." Jiang Xiao frowned, feeling like he had forgotten something important. He sat on the bed in a daze for a long time, then suddenly his expression changed. He vaguely remembered sending a WeChat message yesterday?

Jiang Xiao hurriedly picked up his phone, frantically trying to recall the message. But, you couldn't recall messages from the night before, you couldn't even recall messages from two minutes ago...

Fortunately, Er Wei probably didn't have her personal phone with her and didn't reply.

Drinking caused problems, this was no joke!

If she saw this message, would Jiang Xiao even have a good winter vacation? Would he even be able to spend the New Year at home? Wouldn't he have to fly back to Central Asia again...

"Knock knock knock!" A knock came from the door, along with Han Jiangxue's voice, "If you're awake, get up and eat breakfast. The flight is this morning, we're leaving soon."

"Okay," Jiang Xiao said, feeling remorseful and uneasy. He put down his phone, got dressed, opened the door, and ran to the bathroom.

Jiang Xiao had already planned how to spend this winter vacation. If Han Jiangxue and Xia Yan wanted to relax and have fun, Jiang Xiao would definitely not stop them.

But if the two of them wanted to cultivate their Star Power realm, Jiang Xiao planned to let them enter the Calamity Shadow Territory to cultivate.

Regardless of what the two of them thought, Jiang Xiao had already decided that he had to go inside to improve himself during these two months of winter vacation. The Star Power there was extremely dense, almost suffocating, it was definitely a blessed land for Star Warriors!

After breakfast, Jiang Xiao put on a baseball cap and mask, while Han Jiangxue and Xia Yan put on cotton hats and scarves. The trio rushed to the Imperial Capital International Airport to return home.

And during this short two-hour flight, a major event occurred.

Just as Jiang Xiao, who was sitting by the window, took the coffee handed to him by the handsome flight attendant, his body became petrified, unmoving.

Han Jiangxue, who was sitting in the middle, and Xia Yan, who was sitting on the aisle side, looked at Jiang Xiao curiously. They were holding their cups, ready to receive water, and staring blankly at the flight attendant.

Thankfully, it wasn't a female flight attendant, otherwise Xia Yan would have said something outrageous again.

And the flight attendant knew that his chance had come, so he offered his concerns and directly struck up a conversation with Jiang Xiao: "Changed your mind? What do you want to drink? Do you have time to sign an autograph for me?"

Xia Yan: "..."

Unbelievable, unbelievable. He went straight to the point.

"No need, thank you," Han Jiangxue said politely. She reached out and held Jiang Xiao's cup, guiding his trembling hand to place it on the small table in front of him.

Jiang Xiao also came back to his senses, his mouth slightly open, staring blankly at Han Jiangxue. Not only were his hands trembling, but his body was also shaking slightly with excitement: "I, I... I found..."

Xia Yan was quite curious, wondering what madness Jiang Xiao had fallen into.

Han Jiangxue frowned slightly, took the hot coffee cup away, placed it on Xia Yan's table, turned her head, gently held Jiang Xiao's hand, and said, "Found what?"

The long Jindalai combat career, the stressful review week for exams, had made Han Jiangxue forget something important.

Jiang Xiao had been working hard, striving forward, even if the hope was slim, even if he was pursuing a result that seemed impossible.

"Gulp." Jiang Xiao's Adam's apple bobbed, and a layer of mist actually appeared in his eyes.

Jiang Xiao wasn't a particularly emotional person. He had experienced countless life-and-death battlefields and received countless honors. The last time he had truly teared up was on the podium at the World Cup.

And this time, tears welled up in his eyes because he had found the way home in the upper dimension!

Home, was not the connecting channel of the lower dimension, not the Sacred Ruins.

Home, was the residence of Hu Wei and Cang Lan, was that burnt forest, was that beacon tower emitting thick black smoke...

From late September 2017 to January 20, 2018.

For a full five months, that dark crow flew alone in the wind and snow.

That solitary eye was forever facing the direction where the sun set, searching for the end of the world.

Five months, how many days and nights, no... there was no night, there was only the sun, and even that sun could not be seen, only the afterglow of the setting sun could be seen.

In that unchanging scenery, snowy forests, snowfields, snowy forests, snowfields...

No one could truly feel Jiang Xiao's loneliness and helplessness.

If he was given a definite route, Jiang Xiao could work hard, could fight for it, anything was possible, he knew that one day, he would reach the end.

But no one gave him the answer.

The end of the sky, was still the sky.

The end of the snow, was still the snow.

Jiang Xiao covered his face with his hands, resting his elbows on the small table. It couldn't be said that he was crying with joy, at least the tears in his eyes were few, and he didn't actually shed any tears, but that smile, was the purest.

So... the end of loneliness and helplessness, was hope.

Han Jiangxue finally realized what was happening. She leaned forward, moved closer to Jiang Xiao's ear, and whispered, "Found someone again?"

As soon as she said this, Han Jiangxue denied it in her mind. She knew that Jiang Xiao's state when he found someone wasn't this emotional.

Jiang Xiao, however, kept nodding his head, his face buried in his hands, preventing anyone from seeing his expression. He did, however, say a sentence: "Found people, old friends."

Han Jiangxue's pupils constricted slightly, old friends?

She knew that Jiang Xiao was exploring the end of that world, always moving forward in the direction of the setting sun. If it was an old friend, then he…

Old friends, didn't just represent one person, it represented a deeper meaning.

This represented that the snowfield of the upper dimension might really be pieced together by a series of identical scenes, and Jiang Xiao had long discovered overlapping terrain while mapping.

This further represented that that world wasn't infinitely large. Baiting Jiang Xiao to enter the snowfield again, as long as he had enough time, he could find those survivors in the snowfield again.

Books, toys, daily necessities... and other supplies, could all be delivered to those people.

Han Jiangxue gently stroked Jiang Xiao's back, quietly soothing his emotions. Crying, didn't just represent weakness. Compared to his superficial flippancy, she preferred the pure heart hidden deep inside him.

In the upper dimension, Jiang Xiao flew past the beacon tower emitting thick smoke, continued forward, passed through a snow forest covered by wind and snow, revealing burnt tree trunks, and flew into that canyon.

Jiang Xiao had never imagined that a distance of just five kilometers could be so long.

The wind and snow rose again, Jiang Xiao had long been accustomed to it.

But what Jiang Xiao wasn't used to was seeing darkness.

In this snowfield that was forever in twilight, he actually saw darkness!?

Jiang Xiao realized that he might have entered a Star Technique, or some kind of domain.

Below the canyon, in the cave, Zhang Songfu, wearing a ghost helmet, held the innocent Yuanyuan in his arms, and said softly, "This is the night."

Yuanyuan blinked her big eyes and looked curiously at the darkness: "Home is also night, home is so dark."

"No." Zhang Songfu pointed to the sky, "Night is when the sky turns dark, there will be stars and a moon in the night."

Through the layers of wind and snow, Yuanyuan raised her small face and looked at the pitch blackness, saying, "Can't see them, where are the stars and the moon?"

Zhang Songfu opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. He could only keep the people here in the darkness, greatly weakening the enemy's vision, he couldn't create stars and a moon.

"Liar, you're lying, you're lying..." Yuanyuan's small face immediately collapsed, filled with curiosity and joy, she received such a result. This young child expressed her emotions in the most direct way.

Flutter flutter flutter...

In the darkness, a dark crow, its eyes gleaming with an eerie red light, came from far away.

Only the sound was heard, not the person.

And those eerie red eyes, slowly drifted in the dim night.

Zhang Songfu's body trembled slightly. Those solitary red eyes disappeared, and in the darkness, the "crunching" sound of footsteps stepping on the snow came.

"Liar, you're lying, there's no moon..." Yuanyuan pouted her small mouth, her eyes filled with grievance, but heard Zhang Songfu shouting loudly, "Hu... Hu Wei! Cang Lan!"

The voice echoed in the tunnel, traveling far, far away.

He was extremely shocked, he just subconsciously called out to the couple, even forgetting to withdraw the night.

In the darkness, a figure walked into Zhang Songfu's view.

Carrying wind and snow, dressed in a black Night Watcher uniform, with the special circle mask on his face.

"Wow! Circle Uncle!" Yuanyuan's eyes were still red, but that small face, which was frozen red, burst into a happy smile.

Yuanyuan jumped out of Zhang Songfu's arms, ran to Jiang Xiao in a puff of smoke, and hugged his leg.

Jiang Xiao squatted down and gently touched Yuanyuan's forehead with his own, and said softly, "Don't cry, one day, I will let you see the stars, see the moon."