Chapter 1 The Reunion

The group of five had finally reunited. Originally, Hai Tianqing had been following the team from a distance, not participating in any of their battles, but now, his arms and head were being held down, forcing him to walk with a bowed posture.

The iron hand behind Jiang Xiao's head was incredibly strong, preventing him from even looking around. He could only obediently watch the snow on the ground, observing his surroundings with the corner of his eyes.

"Snap!"

With a series of crisp sounds, Jiang Xiao felt his hands being cuffed behind his back. In that instant, he felt an immense chill.

The moment the handcuffs were on, Jiang Xiao suddenly realized that his star power was being cut off by an unknown force. He could no longer envelop himself in star power, and the cold intensified.

What kind of dark technology was this?

It could actually sever the star power within a person's body?

The team of five was only escorted for three minutes before being handed over to another group, who immediately placed dark hoods over their heads. Then, there was only a long period of walking.

Silence reigned, broken only by the howling wind, the crunch of boots on the snow, and the shivering and chattering teeth of those being frozen.

The group was led for about twenty minutes before finally entering a cave. The temperature around them steadily rose, shielding them from the biting wind, improving the environment considerably, but their hearts continued to sink.

What on earth was going on?

Had they trespassed on a military restricted zone? Were they being detained as prisoners?

What about the white signal flare that had practically set the snowfield ablaze?

These people...

Jiang Xiao stumbled forward on the stone and dirt path. After about a dozen minutes, the guard behind him finally released his hold, and Jiang Xiao staggered to a stop.

After suppressing his thoughts and waiting for a while, he groped around, found a wall, and with his head against it, slowly pulled off the black hood.

The firelight was the cave's only source of light.

The problem was, the bonfire was outside of iron bars.

Had he been thrown into a prison?

Jiang Xiao stepped forward, his hands still cuffed behind his back, and tried to look around. In this irregularly shaped circular cave, there were many such prison cells.

Jiang Xiao saw Han Jiangxue's silent, independent figure in the left front, and the confused Li Weiyi in the cell next to her.

Due to the curvature, Jiang Xiao, in cell number 1, couldn't see the people in cells 2 and 3 adjacent to him.

The person confined in cell number 2, right next to Jiang Xiao, was Hai Tianqing, while Xia Yan was in cell number 3.

"Xiaoxue?" Xia Yan's location was in the very center, preventing her from seeing anyone. She could only quietly call out.

"Yes," Han Jiangxue was in cell number 4. Seeing Jiang Xiao eased her worry considerably. "Is everyone here?"

The others responded one after another.

"Hai Tianqing, what's going on?" Xia Yan asked in a hushed voice. "These men in black uniforms have shoulder emblems with black backgrounds and red lettering. Does that character say 'Ye' (Night)?"

Jiang Xiao was taken aback. "Night"?

What did that mean? He didn't have Xia Yan's abilities; he hadn't had the good fortune of seeing the mysterious shoulder emblems.

"They are the Night Watch," Hai Tianqing whispered.

"The Night Watch?" Li Weiyi asked in surprise. "The Night Watch Legion?"

The Night Watch Legion was a secret national military force.

Jiang Xiao wasn't hearing of the Night Watch Legion for the first time. There were many rumors about them online, but very little actual information.

Mostly unfounded speculation and absurd claims.

Compared to the Wasteland Reclamation Legion, the Night Watch Legion was even more mysterious, with their specific functions not publicly disclosed.

People only knew that it was a mysterious official national department. This legion was active in various other-dimensional spaces throughout China, and no one knew what they did.

However, many awakened ones had personally recounted how the Night Watch had saved their lives.

The Night Watch Legion's uniforms were standardized. In the desert, they wore light-colored desert camouflage. In the snowfields, they wore black cloaks, black military uniforms and pants, and black military boots.

The various other-dimensional environments differed, and so did their attire, but the only constant was the Night Watch Legion's symbol: the arm patch.

The arm patch was completely black, with a dark red character for "Night."

Images of the arm patch had once circulated online, presumably found by an awakened one in another-dimensional space, photographed, and uploaded to the internet. Later…

The image of the arm patch was deleted from the entire internet, and the fate of the photographer was unknown.

But the power of internet users was strong, and the image could still occasionally be seen online.

The arm patch was indeed exquisite, exuding a strange and mysterious aura that piqued Jiang Xiao's curiosity.

Jiang Xiao also had his own speculations about the Night Watch Legion. Judging from the scattered information online, many awakened ones had been rescued by members of the Night Watch Legion.

Was that the team's duty?

It didn't seem right. Saving people and providing assistance seemed to fall under the purview of the Guardians Legion.

Investigating the conditions of other-dimensional spaces? That seemed to be the business of the Wasteland Reclamation Legion.

"What does the Night Watch Legion do?" Jiang Xiao quietly asked.

"Uh," Li Weiyi hesitated, unsure how to respond.

But Hai Tianqing spared him the awkwardness, saying, "Don't you really know where your silver-quality Qingmang (Azure Edge) comes from?"

Jiang Xiao was slightly stunned. Where did it come from?

Of course, he had improved it himself?

What did Hai Tianqing mean? A misunderstanding?

"Your parents may have destroyed an other-dimensional space to obtain a silver-quality White Ghoul Star Bead to give to you," Hai Tianqing continued.

Jiang Xiao was stunned, asking, "What do you mean?"

Thump!

A loud door slam echoed from afar, followed by two tall figures striding in.

They walked with the power of tigers and dragons, imposing and valiant.

They were tall, both around 2 meters in height.

They wore black cloaks, which billowed to the sides as they strode forward, revealing the black military uniforms underneath, like sinister ghosts from the darkness, their presence awe-inspiring.

To Jiang Xiao's surprise, one of them seemed to be a woman?

A woman around 2 meters tall was a rare sight, even in professional basketball.

She was probably twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with a pair of danfengyan (phoenix eyes), narrow and slightly upturned at the corners, giving her a stern look, a difficult person to get along with. Her ponytail was tied behind her back, but very low.

The reason Jiang Xiao noticed her was because her dark eyes were fixed on him, filled with violence, like a female demon who had just come down from the battlefield, still carrying the thick scent of blood.

The other man, however, kept his gaze locked on Hai Tianqing.

"Brother, you're making trouble for me," the man said, his muffled voice coming from under his lower-face mask. "How am I supposed to bail you out at such a crucial moment?"

His words stunned the team members.

What was going on?

Teacher Hai knew someone from the Night Watch Legion?

Judging from his tone, they were on pretty good terms?

The man leaned against the prison door, whispering, "Xiao Hai, tell me, did you hear something?"

Hai Tianqing's smile was a bit bitter. "I don't know anything. I'm just here to protect my students, to participate in the snowfield mission."

"We just verified, your school's mission route is the Northwest Route," the man in black said.

Hai Tianqing said helplessly, "These kids are all quite talented, their strength is in the upper echelon of their peers. They ignored the mission assigned by the school and came directly to the more challenging Southeast Route. I've been following behind them to protect them."

Finally, the tall woman spoke, her voice hoarse: "What a coincidence."

Hai Tianqing replied, "If you verify the information, you'll know the identities of these children. Which of these four isn't as red as can be? They can't be traitors or spies."

Traitors? Spies?

What was going on?

Words usually heard in spy dramas, how did they appear at a time like this?

The tall woman didn't respond. She walked to Jiang Xiao's cell door, lowered her head, and looked down at him.

Her condescending attitude, especially her murderous danfengyan, made Jiang Xiao feel a chill.

What was going on?

Why was she only looking at him?

Wasn't he as politically reliable as the other three?

Eh?

Come to think of it, he was adopted, while the other three had parents who were in the national forces...