Chapter 16 Homecoming

May 16th, in the afternoon, Jin City Zhongchuan International Airport.

Jiang Xiao had exchanged his boarding pass and was wearing a set of ink-wash style clothing with distinct Chinese characteristics. He also added a cap with an ink-wash prancing horse, pulling the brim down low as he silently watched the crowds of people coming and going around him.

People hurried about, and announcements echoed through the airport from time to time. All of this, though ordinary and commonplace, was healing Jiang Xiao's heart.

This was the normal world, busy, noisy, even a bit chaotic, but it gave Jiang Xiao immense peace of mind.

That man in a suit might be worrying about tomorrow's meeting, that young man holding a book might be concerned about a job interview, and that family of three laughing and playing might be making travel plans, dreaming of the beautiful landscapes of the outside world.

"I've already communicated with your teacher and the supervising leaders." Beside him, Er Wei hung up the phone and turned to look at Jiang Xiao. Following his gaze, she saw a woman in simple, elegant clothing, wearing a sun hat and teasing a three-year-old child in her arms.

Jiang Xiao said, "Seeing a scene like that, don't you think... everything you're doing is worth it?"

Er Wei withdrew her gaze, like an emotionless robot, and continued, "They want you back in the team before the 25th. Your itinerary stipulates that you will set sail for Nihon on the 26th."

"Oh, so the higher-ups approved my trip abroad." Jiang Xiao also looked away and turned to Er Wei.

"Approved," Er Wei said. "Just participate in the World Cup as a student. There shouldn't be any problems."

Er Wei thought for a moment and continued, "Next time there's a mission like this, they'll pick you up and send you back."

Jiang Xiao smiled and said, "It's fine if there isn't a free ride. This mission is so heavy, let's not add to the chaos. It doesn't matter how I get back."

Er Wei nodded and said nothing more.

Jiang Xiao suddenly said, "You said yesterday that you had a new appointment, what did you mean?"

Er Wei asked, "Didn't you understand?"

Jiang Xiao scratched his head and said awkwardly, "That Liang Zhou Xiaobai was too strong, the alcohol was too potent..."

Er Wei leaned slightly, approached Jiang Xiao's ear, and whispered, "My team has always been independent. No matter how many levels up you count, my team is independent, and we've always had incomplete members, which is why they let me take apprentices.

After this mission, the higher-ups instructed that they want me to take on more responsibility. I can slowly choose my team members, but they want me to lead a few teams first."

Jiang Xiao's ear felt a little itchy, and he vaguely remembered her words from last night, "Right, I wanted to ask yesterday, are you going from squad leader to platoon leader? Or company commander, battalion commander?"

Er Wei whispered, "None of those. Our sequence and combat style are different from normal troops.

I'll lead three teams first to test the waters. Then they'll have me lead twelve Light Chasing Teams, independently forming a combat sequence.

You know the situation at home and abroad. You need to be on standby at any time. I may recall you at any time."

Jiang Xiao leaned away, rubbed his ear, and said, "You're too picky. Aren't Tian Gou (Sky Hound) and Ying Ya (Shadow Crow) good enough to be your official team members?"

Er Wei shook her head, "I'll transfer them both here to lead their own teams."

Jiang Xiao curled his lips, "Alright, leader, let me know when you see someone you like."

Er Wei said, "Okay, let's go."

Jiang Xiao carried his backpack, stood up, and said, "Call me anytime, I'll come back anytime. Didn't you say it's better to die by your side than to die outside?"

Er Wei stood up, silently looked at Jiang Xiao, her stiff facial lines relaxed slightly, and gently rubbed Jiang Xiao's head, "Go on."

Jiang Xiao tilted his head, shook off the hand on his head, took his boarding pass, and walked towards the security check.

Behind him, Er Wei's voice came, "Identification."

Jiang Xiao hurriedly took out his Star Warrior Certificate and the student ID from the Imperial Capital Star Warrior University from his backpack. During the security check, he was inevitably questioned and recognized. Inevitably, he was taken into the small room...

After Jiang Xiao gave the security check lady an autograph, he finally escaped unscathed. After walking out of the small room, he discovered that Er Wei had not left, her gaze piercing through the security checkpoint, looking into the interior.

Jiang Xiao waved to her, Er Wei nodded slightly in acknowledgment, and then turned and left.

"Hoo..." Jiang Xiao sighed deeply, looked at his boarding gate, looked left and right, and with the enthusiastic help of the security check lady who chased after him, Jiang Xiao hurriedly ran away.

The young lady was too enthusiastic, she even wanted to lead him. Jiang Xiao almost teleported directly into the plane.

Speaking of which, if Jiang Xiao didn't come to this airport and just strolled around the city, waiting for the plane to fly overhead, would he save a lot of trouble by teleporting directly inside?

Forget it, it's too dangerous. He still has to abide by the law and be responsible for the lives of others.

Children should not imitate, well... okay, imitate away, anyway, you can't teleport...

Jin City didn't have direct flights to Xu City, so two and a half hours later, Jiang Xiao landed at Shang City Xinzheng Airport.

The high-speed train could get him back to Xu City in 20 minutes, but the journey from the airport to the high-speed train station was not short.

Jiang Xiao finally had the opportunity to play with his phone. These days, it had been all fighting and awards, and Er Wei had been by his side, so Jiang Xiao hadn't used his phone much.

However, Jiang Xiao did know that Song Chunxi's team had been selected for the national team, which also indicated that there would be two freshmen from Imperial Capital Star Warrior University in this year's national team...

It is worth mentioning that although the number of main players in the individual competition had not changed much, there were three national team group competitions, one more main team than in previous years.

And among these three teams, one was from Imperial Capital Star Warrior University, one was from Magic Capital Star Warrior University, and one was from Xiangnan Military Academy.

The three big shots were all here.

Traditional powerhouses were not just talking, their strength was really not something to brag about. The facts were here, and you had to accept it.

And the remaining two substitute teams were also unexpected. One was from the Army Engineering University of Hai Su Province, and the other was from the Central Region, the Zhongnan Star Warrior University located in Jiang City.

It can be seen that unless your hard power is up to par, anything could happen in a single-elimination tournament.

It wasn't that the Army Engineering University and Zhongnan Star Warrior University were not strong. They were all fighting with real swords and guns to be selected into the substitute lineup, and their strength was definitely first-class, but relatively speaking, some of the eliminated teams had super-first-class strength...

There wasn't a single team from ordinary local universities. Among the five teams, either they were Star Warrior Universities with the "Star Warrior" name, or they were military academies.

What really made Jiang Xiao feel interesting was that Dai Lun and Mi Yan's team encountered a group of big shots from Magic Capital Star Warrior University in the round of 16.

Even if you lost in the quarterfinals, you still had a chance to fight for a substitute spot. But if you lost in the round of 16? What's the point of playing?

Imperial Capital Star Warrior University and Magic Capital Star Warrior University had always maintained a very fierce competitive relationship.

This time, Dai Lun's failure was not only that he personally could not participate in the World Cup and add a bright resume to his life, but also that people were scolding him to the point of being unrecognizable.

The problem was that the people from Magic Capital Star Warrior University just looked down on Dai Lun's team from the perspective of victors, but the students from Imperial Capital Star Warrior University were really scolding Dai Lun into a sieve.

They might be restrained when meeting in school, at most giving him a bad look, but what were they afraid of online?

Scold! Spit!

Although I'm not good, I won't go up and embarrass myself!

You're obviously not good, why are you still playing?

For a time, Dai Lun's actions during his team formation at school spread like wildfire, attracting a lot of attention and siege.

If Dai Lun and his team moved forward all the way, then there would be no problem.

History is always written by the victors. Under the glory of achievement, some things can be covered up, or even ignored.

And now, Minister Song and Minister He, two frustrated little cadres, brought their long-sought freshman teammate and really snatched a spot on the national team's main roster.

On the contrary, Dai Lun, who had a smooth journey, set traps and backstabbed people everywhere, was eliminated.

Not only was he eliminated, but he was also eliminated by his arch-rival, Magic Capital Star Warrior University. The internet exploded.

That match had been over for almost ten days, and the brewing, fermentation, and climax had all passed. The current heat was still undiminished.

After all, the national team selection competition was no longer a hot spot, it was a base station, and everyone wanted to take advantage of it.

Jiang Xiao casually flipped through Weibo. There were indeed many great gods online, and the jokes people made about Dai Lun were very interesting.

"Don't slander Dai Lun anymore, he saved me from my lost state. So what if he wasn't selected for the national team? He used his actual actions to tell me that I can do it too!"

"Suppressing the opposing team for several years, forming cliques everywhere, isolating classmates... Unexpected, a 30-star slot Da Xue Shen (Great Snow God) emerged in the freshman year!"

"Dai Lun and Song Chunxi teamed up to prove: the best is always in the freshman year, and the best is always the female classmate!"

The news about the national team's team selection competition could be described as a shocking wave, and the news about the national team's individual competition was also extremely popular.

Imperial Capital Star Warrior University finally regained face here, recommending three people, all of whom advanced!

And Magic Capital Star Warrior University only had Yu Jin as a lone seedling, and Wu Xiaojing from the East China Naval Military Medical University could also help hold the line.

Xiangnan Military Academy, which had been happily eating melons, completely fell this time. The individual competition was wiped out, and they didn't even get a substitute...

However, Xiangnan Military Academy had strict discipline and never participated in any disputes, so it only attracted the confusion and discussion of ordinary netizens.

And among the national team individual competition members, the one with the most traffic was Jiang Xiao, who hadn't posted on Weibo for a long time.

Fourth in the national team's internal ranking! A healing-type Star Warrior!

Can you believe it? That little poison nanny actually ranked fourth in the national team's individual competition!?

The most important thing was that the competition strictly blocked the news, only giving exclusive reports to CCTV. Although there were no specific match scenes in the news revealed by CCTV, the ranking was supported by battle results.

Only that little poison nanny from Imperial Capital Star Warrior University won against Xie Yan from Zhongyuan Star Warrior University in the round of 8, and then... there was no then!

Then the little poison nanny ranked fourth! There was no next match!?

The official explanation was that the little poison nanny was not feeling well and voluntarily gave up the right to compete for the captaincy.

Not feeling well? Who are you kidding?

With a bunch of medical staff on the scene, how could a participant not feel well? Moreover, the little poison nanny herself is a big nanny, how could she not feel well?

Why did the remaining three people directly have a round-robin competition to fight for the captaincy?

Could it be... the little poison nanny was just being childish and didn't want to play with the older brothers and sisters?

Jiang Xiao, of course, saw such questioning posts, but could only sigh.

Indeed, my little temper came up!

Playing with older brothers and sisters is not interesting. It's more exciting to kick the Star Sea Stage female mage off the altar...