Chapter 2 Two Days Later

Two days later,

The four-person team, led by Instructor Jiang Hong, arrived in Jinmen City.

Qin Wangchuan was now the head instructor of the Imperial Capital Star Warrior University and was also establishing an apprentice training system for the pioneering army in the surrounding cities' Star Warrior Universities. Burdened with important matters, he didn't have much time to escort everyone.

So, leading the team was Instructor Jiang Hong, a magic-type instructor with explosive damage output and the ability to quickly escape the battlefield.

In fact, in Qin Wangchuan's mind, it wasn't just Instructor Jiang Hong who was escorting the team; Jiang Xiao was also one of them.

Although Instructor Jiang Hong was extremely serious, with Jiang Xiao around, the team's atmosphere couldn't be too bad.

Ever since she got on the train, Xia Yan couldn't contain her eager heart. Although she possessed the two star techniques, Shadow Blade and Shadow Blade's Fury, she had never actually been to the Shadow Cave.

She had never even been to Jinmen City...

When the team exited the station, hearing the conversations of the people around them, Xia Yan suddenly blurted out, "Is everyone here named Liu Yang?"

Jinmen Thug - Liu Yang, was an alumnus of theirs and also their opponent in the National High School Competition.

As Jiang Xiao joined the pioneering army selection program and became a soldier in both armies, there was less contact between the Northern River Bandit and the Jinmen Thug.

Xia Yan and Liu Yang were both agility-based warriors, one in the Combat Class and one in the Assassin Class. They even took some courses together, so she saw more of Liu Yang.

Listening to the Jinmen accent all around him, Jiang Xiao said with a smile, "Of course, Liu Yang is a native of Jinmen, so his accent is naturally similar to theirs."

Xia Yan glared at Jiang Xiao, retorting, "You're the one talking nonsense!"

Jiang Xiao, however, looked at the solemn Gu Shi'an and couldn't help but pat him on the shoulder, saying, "Don't worry too much, you have to face it eventually. You're a pioneering army soldier, and you can't choose the other dimensions or the other-dimensional creatures you'll deal with in the future.

Getting in contact with the Fallen Shadow creatures early is only beneficial, not harmful. After all, I'm here to protect you. A milk-type like me isn't common."

"Yeah," Gu Shi'an responded casually, taking out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. His expression was as heavy as his mood. To put it simply: the Shadow Cave wasn't open to the public.

That one sentence was enough to indicate the danger level of the Shadow Cave.

And among the other-dimensional spaces of the same danger level, the Shadow Cave was clearly even more special!

As a Night Watch - Light Chaser member, Jiang Xiao should have been able to enter most of the publicly accessible other-dimensional spaces. Under normal circumstances, the Night Watch stationed in the local dimensional space would give Jiang Xiao some face.

But the Jinmen Shadow Cave was clearly not one of them.

Because the other-dimensional creatures within were all Gold rank and above, and there was even a Platinum Fallen Shadow Demon holding the fort, their star technique effects were too special, all related to damaging the soul, so they could easily cause indelible blows and influences to Star Warriors.

The military only periodically organized personnel to kill for star beads and use them as material reserves, giving them to members of the team in various ways so that soldiers could possess such powerful and strange star techniques.

Jiang Xiao didn't know if his Night Watch officer's certificate would grant him access, so he didn't use the officer's certificate to test it. Instead, he directly contacted Qin Wangchuan to help him arrange this place as a training location.

In fact, Qin Wangchuan was also opposed to Jiang Xiao wanting to enter it for training.

The reason?

Naturally, it was what he had just said: the creatures here had star techniques that inflicted damage on the human soul, and Star Warriors were very prone to injury here.

The battlefield was not a ring, and no one would show mercy. What's more, in this world, you could still kill in the ring.

Once the trainees suffered soul damage, causing their bodies to stiffen, or if they were entangled by Shadow Spirits and unable to move, those few short seconds would be enough to determine a trainee's life or death.

Not to mention that there was also a god-like star technique here: Silence!

There were star techniques in this world that could soothe and heal the soul, but like the star techniques that damaged the soul, they were very rare.

But it didn't matter, Jiang Xiao was one of the "rare" ones. He had the Bell.

What was more interesting was that Star Warriors with war-type star charts absorbed this type of soul-damaging star technique better.

They absorbed war-type star techniques, such as Shadow Spear, Shadow Blade's Fury, and so on. You could understand it this way: these war-type star techniques had the effect of damaging the soul attached to them.

As for the magic-type... there were too few star charts that matched this type of soul star technique.

The Fallen Shadow series was similar to the Savage Necromancer's star technique, Corpse Spirit, in the Armory. Back then, Han Jiangxue absorbed so many Savage Necromancer star beads, but she didn't absorb even a single star technique.

Wasn't Han Jiangxue talented?

Of course not, it was all because Han Jiangxue's star chart didn't match.

It could be seen that within the magic-type category, there was also a chasm between star charts.

The four talented young individuals gathered together, and their physical appearances were so outstanding that even Jiang Xiao and Han Jiangxue, wearing hats and masks, couldn't avoid the onlookers.

People easily associated these four with a Star Warrior team. A group of four was standard. Gu Shi'an's tall stature and broad shoulders made him look like a reassuring great shield.

And the short-haired girl next to him, with her heroic temperament, looked like an agility-based warrior.

As for who was the medical type and who was the magic type, it was difficult to tell the pair of men and women wearing hats and masks apart.

"This way, let's go." Not far away, Instructor Jiang Hong waved to the group. In front of him, there were also two soldiers in plain clothes.

The group hurriedly walked over, quickly got into the van, and escaped the sight of the enthusiastic citizens.

In the van, Jiang Xiao sat in the back row and suddenly said to Instructor Jiang Hong, "Oh, right, Instructor Jiang, we've already communicated with Instructor Qin. After this training mission, we're planning to take a stroll around Jinmen and try some jianbing guozi (a kind of Chinese crepe). Instructor Qin has agreed."

Instructor Jiang Hong turned his head and glanced at Jiang Xiao, saying, "Since Instructor Qin has agreed, then after we come out, I'll return to the team first, and you can manage your own time."

The soldier driving in the front suddenly spoke, "Don't go to the scenic spots to eat. Don't believe those stores. Go to the old city and find a Hu entrepreneur's cart. Ask for the kind that brings their own eggs. That's what you call authentic, hey..."

Listening to the soldier's standard Mandarin, Jiang Xiao scratched his head and, after a long while, squeezed out, "Okay! Let's do it that way!"

Soldier: "..."

The other soldier sitting in the passenger seat couldn't stop laughing: "You learned it pretty well."

...

Two hours later, in the northernmost part of Jinmen, near the border with Yan Zhao Province, the vehicle slowly drove into a military camp.

The so-called military camp was not the kind with tents, but a complex of buildings. Here, Jiang Xiao saw heavily guarded soldiers, and even saw a team of soldiers wearing camouflage short sleeves running in formation when they came in.

The sound of "one two three four" was particularly loud.

The quartet's eyes were opened this time. They had been to many other-dimensional spaces and many outposts, but the entrance to the Shadow Cave space here was actually on the third underground floor.

Underground base? It really was a different world.

This place wasn't open to the public, and there were no public bathing rooms or wardrobes. The group didn't change their clothes. Led by the two soldiers, they handed over their pioneering army certificates and went straight to a huge underground room without any obstacles.

Instructor Jiang Hong took the invisible earpiece from the soldier and handed it to everyone. Then, he took the lead and walked straight in.

While wearing the invisible earpiece, Han Jiangxue waved her hand, and Space Tear caused the space around her to overlap. From it, she took out greatswords and giant blades, distributing them to Xia Yan and Jiang Xiao.

"Let's go." Jiang Xiao patted Gu Shi'an on the shoulder, and the quartet entered in single file.

As soon as they entered the "Shadow Cave," everyone felt a slight chill.

The temperature here wasn't high, and what caught their eyes was a wilderness.

Weeds stubbornly drilled out of the ground, clustering together in patches. There were rubble stones everywhere, quite like the Er'ye Mountain dimensional space.

Unlike Er'ye Mountain, the sky here was gray, but it wasn't night, just overcast.

The desert stretched out as far as the eye could see, quiet and desolate, with only the scene of weeds swaying as the breeze blew.

Turning his head, Jiang Xiao saw a group of buildings made up of wooden houses behind him. Outside the wooden houses, campfires were burning, and several soldiers looked over from afar, walking over.

While the soldiers were talking to Instructor Jiang Hong, Han Jiangxue looked at the team and said, "Let's review. What do we need to pay attention to?"

Although this question was addressed to the entire team, Han Jiangxue's eyes were fixed on Xia Yan.

Xia Yan pouted and said, "If we find a Fallen Shadow Demon, we fight or run. The commander will decide as soon as possible, and we must strictly execute the commander's orders without any delay.

If we choose to kill the Fallen Shadow Demon, then no matter how many Fallen Shadow creatures are around it, don't be distracted by them. We must kill the Fallen Shadow Witch first. Try to avoid any corpses appearing in the Fallen Shadow Witch's view."

Han Jiangxue nodded: "Very good."

Xia Yan didn't think much of it, saying, "As long as there are no corpses around, then the Fallen Shadow Demon is just a mascot~ Also, doesn't Little Pi have Silence? Just control the Fallen Shadow Demon to death."

Han Jiangxue immediately glared at Xia Yan.

Xia Yan closed her mouth in a timely manner and quickly changed the subject, saying, "By the way, can we take all the star beads we hunt this time out? We took them out last time in the Desperate Lair."

Jiang Xiao, looking at Instructor Jiang Hong talking to the soldiers, frowned slightly, saying, "Yes, but you can't sell them. You can keep them for your own use."

Xia Yan asked doubtfully, "Why can we take the star beads from the Desperate Lair and the Shadow Cave out? We had to hand in the star beads we got in the Rain of Tears Forest back then? Is it because the star technique effects of the Rain of Tears series are too special?"

Han Jiangxue thought for a while and said, "Maybe... we were apprentices back then, and now we're official pioneering army soldiers."

Xia Yan blinked: "Sure enough, pioneering army soldiers with official positions are different. The benefits are great."

Han Jiangxue said, "This is what the soldiers deserve."

Jiang Xiao said, "Something seems to have happened."

"What's wrong?" Everyone turned to look, only to see Instructor Jiang Hong waving, signaling them to come over.

The quartet quickly walked forward, coming to Instructor Jiang Hong and the soldiers.

Instructor Jiang Hong said with a serious expression, "Two teams collecting star bead resources went missing a day ago, at the same time.

The defense army has sent out 6 teams to search for them, but there have been no results. The defense legion hopes that we will explore to the west and report any news as soon as possible."

Instructor Jiang Hong was also just staring at Xia Yan when he said this.

Xia Yan immediately understood what he meant. They were relying on her Region Tear star technique. She subconsciously turned her head to look at the team's commander - Han Jiangxue.

Although Jiang Xiao was the captain, just like last time in Jindalai, Han Jiangxue's core leadership position had been completely established as early as when they set off from the Imperial Capital.

And Han Jiangxue, in turn, looked at Jiang Xiao.

Although it was a look of inquiry, Han Jiangxue understood Jiang Xiao. Jiang Xiao's decision was obvious.

"No problem," Jiang Xiao said immediately.

However, he was pessimistic about this search mission.

The Shadow Cave was called the Shadow Cave because the Fallen Shadow creatures here were all in the caves. They would also come to the surface, but after all, it was a minority.

The fact that two teams could go missing together gave Jiang Xiao reason to speculate that the soldiers had met with misfortune, and if such a situation occurred, it would probably be an encounter. Jiang Xiao didn't think such a battle would take place on the surface.

In this way, the effect of the Region Tear star technique would also be reduced to the minimum.

This task was somewhat difficult.