Returning to the Base City

"Xiao Ai, wake up, it's time to get off. We've arrived."

Qin Yi nudged Xu Ai, who was "asleep" while leaning against her chest, as the train's arrival announcement echoed through the carriage.

Xu Ai opened her eyes in a daze, rubbed her face against Qin Yi's chest, and only then lifted her head from her warm, soft embrace.

"Are we here?"

"Don't be in such a rush, wait a moment..."

Seeing Xu Ai foolishly stand up and prepare to squeeze into the crowd, Qin Yi quickly pulled her back.

With a soft thwack, Xu Ai sat back down on the seat.

"Oh, oh, okay."

There were still too many people; it was better to wait until the crowd had thinned out before leaving.

It was November now, and the weather had started to turn chilly.

In City 0551, the defensive facilities were basically completed, leaving only some basic infrastructure to be finished. Hen Ren needed to stay and oversee things for a while longer, but Xu Ai and the others were no longer needed, so they had returned.

Once the crowd had mostly dispersed, Xu Ai finally got off the train with Qin Yi and the others.

"Qingling, Xiao Ai, over here!"

Xu Xin and Liu Ting were waving a sign, their shouts immediately catching Xu Ai's attention.

Having not seen Xu Xin and Liu Ting for several days, Xu Ai missed them dearly and immediately looked toward Liu Ting.

"We're coming!"

"Xiao Ai!!!"

Liu Ting took the initiative, rushing over to wrap Xu Ai in a hug!

"Uh, long time no see, Tingting."

Xu Ai smiled awkwardly; in truth, she had wanted to hug her own sister first.

Liu Ting held Xu Ai's slender waist for a moment before letting go, gave her own aunt a quick hug, and then stepped back.

Liu Qingling was speechless. Liu Ting had hugged Xu Ai for over ten seconds, but her? Only two or three seconds? This girl was raised for nothing!

As Liu Qingling's niece, Liu Ting was naturally very familiar with the Willow Leaf Squad, giving each of them a big hug, especially Ye Yu, Qin Yi, and Gu Zizhen.

The duration of those hugs was no less than the one she gave Xu Ai, whereas Yu Fei and Jun Xia received hugs similar to Liu Qingling's—as for the reason, one only needed to look at their figures.

After Liu Ting let go, Xu Ai immediately threw herself into Xu Xin's arms. Xu Xin's embrace was much more comfortable than Liu Ting's; after all, Xu Xin was much more... ahem... well-endowed than Liu Ting.

Besides Xu Xin and Liu Ting, Xu Gang had come as well.

He waited for quite a while for Xu Ai to break free from the hugs, then immediately grinned and opened his arms, waiting for Xu Ai to throw herself into his embrace.

However, Xu Ai had no interest in male creatures, not even her brother.

She gave Xu Gang's shoulder a simple pat, which served as her greeting, and the smile on Xu Gang's face instantly drooped.

"I never expected that in just about two months, you'd go from a rookie who just became a martial artist to the level of an Early War General."

Liu Ting said with a smile. That's right, it was October now, two months since Xu Ai and the others had gone to the wilderness area, and she had completely stepped into the Early War General Level, even exceeding it slightly!

"I wouldn't call myself a rookie who just became a martial artist. I was already at the War General Level when I passed the actual combat assessment to become a martial artist."

Xu Ai retorted.

"It doesn't matter how strong you were then; I just know that if the military hadn't told us, we would still be kept in the dark by you!"

Thinking of this, Xu Gang felt very dissatisfied. As Xu Ai's closest (in his own opinion) brother, he wasn't the first to know the news! That was just too much!

Xu Ai smiled awkwardly.

"Ahem, what do you call a surprise? Look, isn't this a big surprise?"

"Heh."

Xu Gang turned his head away, wearing an expression that said, "I'm very angry and I'm ignoring you."

Xu Xin opened her mouth, looking at Xu Gang with a hint of resentment.

Damn it! Xu Gang had said everything, and he had done all the expressions and actions—what was she, the older sister, supposed to do?

Should she say he was worthy of being the big brother? With this tsundere expression and set of actions, she, as a sister, had to admit defeat in terms of being a "sister-con"!

Xu Ai patted Xu Gang on the shoulder and said a few sweet words to appease him, and the sister-con immediately beamed with joy, forgiving Xu Ai.

Sister-cons were truly easy to fool!

Watching Xu Gang's beaming face, Xu Xin couldn't help but roll her eyes at him before smiling at Liu Qingling and the others.

"Qingling, thank you all for taking care of my sister during this time. I've already prepared a private room at the HR Alliance mall; let's all go have lunch together."

"Sounds good."

Everyone nodded. It was past 11:00 AM, nearing noon, so having a meal before heading home was a good idea.

Xu Xin smiled and turned back, seeing Xu Gang still standing there, and couldn't help but tap him.

"Let's go."

After saying this, Xu Xin took the lead, and Xu Ai and Liu Qingling followed along.

"Hey, hey? Wait for me."

Riding in a high-speed vehicle reserved for fighters and traveling along the dedicated fighter lane, the group soon arrived at the HR Alliance mall.

After entering the private room, Xu Xin handed the menu to everyone. Once they had finished ordering, she added a few more dishes before letting the waiter go to prepare them.

Feeling the gazes frequently landing on her, Xu Xin looked helplessly at Xu Ai, only to see Xu Ai's head bowed low.

"You've looked at me many times already, what exactly is the matter?"

"Um, big sister..."

Xu Ai couldn't hold it in anymore, leaning in to whisper in her ear:

"Were you wiggling your butt when you were walking just now?"

"???"

Xu Xin was full of question marks. After thinking for a moment, she understood what Xu Ai meant and couldn't help but roll her eyes at her.

"What wiggling, that's called a cat walk, and I wasn't wiggling my butt!"

"You're not a model, why walk with a cat walk?"

Xu Ai pouted. Xu Xin indeed hadn't been wiggling her butt, but seeing her walk, Xu Ai just couldn't help but let her gaze drift downward.

"Right, big sister, you never used to walk like that before. How come you suddenly started walking this way?"

Xu Xin's previous gait, while not a bold and unrestrained stride, hadn't been this alluring either...

"What? Does it look bad?"

Xu Xin leaned into Xu Ai's ear and whispered, "Tingting and Auntie both said that men like sexy beauties, so they insisted on dragging me to learn it. After doing it so much, I accidentally got used to it."

Listening to Xu Xin's explanation and seeing the eager look in her eyes, how could Xu Ai not understand what was going on?

Damn that Luo Feng!!!

But big sister's butt-wiggling—bah! I mean, her cat walk—is really good-looking~ (ˉ﹃ˉ)

"Xiao Ai, you're going to the Elite Training Camp next, right?"

Ye Yu helped Xu Ai pick up a piece of meat and asked.

After all, with Xu Ai's talent, it seemed quite normal for her to go to the Elite Training Camp.

"Not going, not going..."

Xu Ai shook her head repeatedly. She wasn't going to the Elite Training Camp! Why would she want to go there?

Ye Yu felt helpless, but after thinking about it, she felt it was fine not to go.

"Is that so? True, with the Ruthless Councilor around, you don't need to go to the Elite Training Camp to fight for resources at all."

In fact, with Xu Ai's strength and that tenfold force amplification, she wouldn't need to fight for anything; the moment she entered, they would definitely pour resources into cultivating her.

However, those resources certainly wouldn't include Vegetation Spirit, not that Vegetation Spirit was of much use to Xu Ai, who was already at the Wargod level.

And the Gravity Chamber... forget it, she might as well train at home...

The meal was finished quickly, as they had all been away from home for nearly two months and were eager to return.

After the group said their goodbyes, they each headed back to their own homes.

Xu Ai was no exception; she had to return to the Xu Family Old Residence, after all, she hadn't received her family's permission to participate in the City 0551 battle...