Chapter 1 The Beginning

Under the night sky, a light rain drizzled incessantly. A white sedan exited the highway and headed into the mountains from a fork in the road.

Researcher Fang Hui's car wasn't luxurious or particularly conspicuous, but it enjoyed high-level treatment. It passed through numerous checkpoints, with soldiers waving it through each time.

The vehicle finally entered a military camp. Jiang Xiao witnessed the true appearance of a heavily guarded area and marveled inwardly at the strict security. Although the car was allowed to pass, Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue were thoroughly checked. Their documents were in order, so there were no surprises.

This military camp seemed to belong to the Guardians Legion. Due to the unique spatial properties, the military had dispersed its forces across the mountainside.

The siblings followed Fang Hui into a building. Fang Hui asked them to wait at the entrance and hurried inside.

The siblings curiously watched him go through security checks, sign documents, and complete other strict procedures.

Jiang Xiao whispered, "Is this their research institute?"

Han Jiangxue covered her small mouth with her hand, preventing any sound from escaping. Her beautiful eyes curiously scanned the surroundings. "It seems so."

Soon, Fang Hui returned, having changed into a white lab coat.

He came out and handed two badges to the siblings, saying, "Change into these clothes, and wear this badge on your chest."

Jiang Xiao took the badge and examined it closely. It had large characters that read: Southwest Star Beast Research Institute. For Visitors Only.

Seemed pretty high-end.

The siblings underwent thorough checks before finally entering the institute. At Fang Hui's request, they put on the white lab coats he had brought.

Clothes make the man!

Now that everyone was dressed the same, it was all about the vibe – were they researchers or cooks?

Jiang Xiao felt more like a doctor...

Led by Fang Hui, they exited through the back door of the building and entered a private passage.

After winding around for about five minutes, Jiang Xiao saw the final "checkpoint."

But for the battle-hardened siblings, a simple inspection was nothing. Jiang Xiao felt like he had been investigated to the point of questioning his existence.

"Mr. Fang," a soldier said amiably, holding out a hand to stop them.

The soldiers standing guard at the entrance and those inside the building looked over, sizing them up.

Fang Hui said, "These are the two."

The next moment, the soldier saluted Jiang Xiao.

Although Jiang Xiao was wearing a white lab coat, he quickly returned the salute. The entire way here, the identities of Jiang Xiao as a member of the Night Watch and Han Jiangxue as a member of the Trailblazers had been verified.

On the way, Fang Hui had specifically reminded them to show their military officer IDs. The siblings had never told Fang Hui their ranks, so it seemed that the Capital Star Warrior University had informed them when communicating with this base.

Fang Hui smiled and said, "This time, you don't need to send someone to follow me, right?"

The soldier and Han Jiangxue returned salutes, but the soldier looked at Fang Hui with a troubled expression. "Mr. Fang, this..."

Fang Hui smiled. "With these two here, how could anything go wrong? Let's leave it at that. You have to trust your own brothers, right?"

The soldier hesitated and turned to look at Jiang Xiao. "Officer..."

Jiang Xiao: "..."

Although the Guardians and the Night Watch were completely separate legions, and Jiang Xiao was from the Northwest while this was the Southwest, the name of Night Watch·Chasing Light was seriously impressive!

Jiang Xiao said, "I guarantee it with my identity. Please rest assured."

After all, Fang Hui was the one who brought them in, and Jiang Xiao needed his help, so he would try to follow Fang Hui's wishes as much as possible. Besides, the fewer people accompanying them, the better.

With that, Fang Hui led the siblings through.

Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue exchanged a glance. This seemingly ordinary Fang Hui seemed to have a high status here, and this Star Beast Research Institute had far more power than Jiang Xiao had imagined.

The heavy iron door opened, and in the distance, a layered, overlapping other dimension came into Jiang Xiao's view.

The three of them stepped inside, and Jiang Xiao's mind cleared.

What greeted his eyes was green!

Truly green! A green that refreshed the spirit!

This was fresh air, a gentle breeze!

It was a rainy night on Earth, but here, it was daytime. Magnificent cloud seas floated in the sky, and at first glance, Jiang Xiao couldn't find the sun...

Behind them, not far away, was the Guardians' building, a standard supply point.

And in front of them was a bamboo forest.

If Han Jiangxue had a sword and was dressed in white, how beautiful would it be to see her dance a piece inside?

Fang Hui said, "Let's enter the bamboo forest over there. Remember not to easily damage the environment here. There are markings on the bamboo to help us return."

Jiang Xiao nodded repeatedly. The group entered the bamboo forest, where the terrain became uneven. They climbed upwards along a small path.

Jiang Xiao clicked his tongue in amazement, touching the bamboo on both sides of the path as he walked.

Like master, like star pet.

Black and White Candle nestled in Han Jiangxue's arms, its curious expression mirroring Jiang Xiao's perfectly.

Fang Hui introduced, "Although this is another dimension, the bamboo species here can all be found on Earth. This is a moso bamboo forest, the most common type in this dimension. Most of the bamboo forests you'll see are this type."

Jiang Xiao couldn't distinguish the bamboo species. In his mind, bamboo was just bamboo. Did it even have different types?

Jiang Xiao nodded lightly, looking up at the tall bamboo. It had to be at least 10 meters tall, right?

A dozen minutes later, Jiang Xiao heard the sound of water flowing, or rather, the sound of a waterfall.

The trio climbed to the top of the hill, and Jiang Xiao was completely intoxicated.

Below, the boundless bamboo forest stretched out in all directions, seemingly without end. Surrounded by green mountains, the lake below was as clear as a mirror, breathtakingly beautiful.

Jiang Xiao finally saw a round thing!

It was directly opposite where Jiang Xiao stood on the hilltop, on the other side of the lake, on the mountainside.

"Ah," Han Jiangxue exclaimed softly, looking worriedly at the opposite hillside. "Jiang Xiao, go quickly. Don't let it fall into the lake."

A black-and-white round thing was rolling down the hillside. It didn't seem to mind the tumbling, nor did it seem to have much awareness of danger.

All the way down the slope, it had countless opportunities to grab the surrounding bamboo, but it... well, it was very easygoing.

What kind of attitude was this?

This was an extreme level of laziness, as if it had lost all its dreams. It let its round body roll down the mountain, straight towards the lake.

Fang Hui smiled and said, "No need..."

But his words stopped abruptly because Jiang Xiao had already blinked away.

In the distance by the lake, Jiang Xiao's figure suddenly appeared, squatting down with open arms, welcoming the furry, round creature.

"Woah!" Jiang Xiao hugged the giant bamboo bear.

From the other side of the mountain, the bamboo bear looked small, but when Jiang Xiao came into contact with it, he realized it was at least two meters long!

It must weigh more than 400 pounds!

Jiang Xiao went from a squat to a horse stance, catching the rolling bamboo bear. Jiang Xiao's body slid back a little.

Jiang Xiao supported its furry butt with both hands, and casually pinched its furry, round little tail.

"Eep~" The bamboo bear turned to look behind it.

"Hi~" Jiang Xiao propped up its body with one hand and waved with the other, greeting it.

The bamboo bear, sporting "black eye circles," looked at Jiang Xiao, blinked its dark, shiny eyes, and then lazily turned its head, lying prone on the hillside, as if giving up resistance.

"Hello?" A male voice came from not far behind.

"Ah." Jiang Xiao turned his head and saw several men also wearing white lab coats. Everything was fine until he turned around, and then there was trouble.

On the opposite hillside, Jiang Xiao hadn't seen the reverse slope. He hadn't expected there to be a pit at the bottom of the hill?

And in that pit... were piles and piles of bamboo bears, all having lost their dreams, lying on the ground or facing the sky, snoring loudly.

Their sizes varied, but the largest was no bigger than the one Jiang Xiao had intercepted. Looking closely, it seemed that around 1.5 meters was the most common size? There were also some smaller ones, like young ones that hadn't grown up yet.

Wow, these things really are cuter the smaller they are...

Jiang Xiao confirmed that the adult bamboo bear in front of him wouldn't roll down, then turned around and pointed to his badge.

The men relaxed and bent down to continue working.

Their work involved carefully picking up a bamboo bear and carrying it up the mountain.

Jiang Xiao sat on the hillside, curiously asking, "What are you doing?"

One of the men, carrying a bamboo bear, walked past Jiang Xiao and glanced at his badge, explaining, "They're very lazy. If we don't manually carry them back to the bamboo forest and disperse the bamboo bears in the pit, more and more of them will pile up here. When this pit is full, if more bamboo bears roll down, they might actually fall into the lake."

Jiang Xiao: "..."

The man looked curiously at Jiang Xiao and asked, "Are you Officer Jiang Xiaopi?"

Jiang Xiao nodded. "Hello."

The man smiled at Jiang Xiao and said, "We just received a notice from the team. I didn't expect to meet you so soon, officer. Your performance in the World Cup was great! Your Star Techniques are amazing!"

Jiang Xiao knew that this guy must be a Star Warrior, otherwise, how could he easily pick up a 300-400 pound bamboo bear.

Jiang Xiao grinned. "You flatter me."

The man continued, "Do you have time now, officer? Could you use your Blink Star Technique to help us move some bamboo bears?"

Jiang Xiao: "..."

I wondered why you were being so polite. You want to use me as a laborer?

Jiang Xiao thought for a moment and said, "My strength isn't good. Let me tell you, I have an older sister who can teleport everything in an entire area at once."

The man blinked in surprise.

Whoosh...

A semi-transparent black wave shield suddenly opened, and Han Jiangxue and Fang Hui stood by the lake not far away. As the black wave energy shield spread outward and disappeared without a trace, their figures were revealed.

Jiang Xiao raised his head in the direction of the lake and pointed at Han Jiangxue with his chin. "Look, she's here."

Han Jiangxue looked at Jiang Xiao from afar, not understanding his gesture.

Jiang Xiao waved at her. "Come on, let's move bricks together... uh, move bears..."