"Are you the 'hero' who slipped away from the celebration banquet?" A Hunter, nearly six feet tall, turned his head and looked at Sun Hang, asking.

"If the person you're looking for is named Sun Hang, then that would be me," Sun Hang admitted.

"The person who awarded you was the third-ranking official of the Dubhe Tower; such an honor is something others can only dream of... I'm very curious, what were you thinking at the time?" The Hunter asked, puzzled.

"I was full, so I went out for a walk to digest," Sun Hang said, "As for honor, which is so intangible, I prefer practical benefits."

Sun Hang only skipped the medal ceremony at the celebration banquet; he didn't miss any of the various awards from the Federation's top officials. Even the medal he didn't go onstage to receive was delivered to his home after the banquet.

"Ha, you're interesting," the tall Hunter laughed.

"Don't be interesting," another Hunter, wearing a big hood and seemingly having horns on his head, complained, "You went out for a walk, causing everyone to be busy all night, found nothing, and didn't sleep well..."

This fellow had heavy dark circles under his eyes, yawning as he spoke, looking extremely tired.

"Catch up on sleep on the plane," the tall Hunter patted his shoulder, saying.

"I'm from Chunming City, and the flight from Celestial City to Chunming City is less than three hours, and we're on a military plane, it'll be even faster." He yawned again, "Probably just fell asleep and will be woken up, better just forget it."

As this group of Hunters chatted idly, the bus arrived at the research institute on time, and everyone got on the bus. Sun Hang was surprised to find the bus driver was the same uncle who had picked him up after eliminating the shadow and later encountered the bandit attack together.

"Meeting again," Sun Hang greeted.

"Yes," the driver uncle's arm was still bandaged, but judging from his expression, the injury seemed to be no big deal.

Besides researching and containing mysterious creatures, the Mysterious Creature Research Institute's level in medicine is also top-notch—strictly speaking, the place with the highest medical standard in the Celestial City is not the First Central Hospital but this Mysterious Creature Research Institute in the Celestial City.

Except this place is not open to citizens, and the patients admitted are not "ordinary humans."

"I later went back and thought about it; what you said last time makes sense, Shuzhou is really too dangerous now." The driver's hands rested on the steering wheel, chatting with Sun Hang.

"Are you planning to leave here?"

"Me? I definitely can't go." The driver uncle sighed, "But I sent my wife and kids to relatives in Mist City, and I'm staying here alone to guard the house and make more money to send to them. I'll bring them back when the Eternal Night disappears or the situation is stable enough."

"That's indeed a solution," Sun Hang nodded, found a seat on the bus, and sat down.

Everyone got on the bus, and the driver uncle stopped chatting, closed the door, stepped on the gas, and the bus slowly moved, heading towards the airport.

...

...

Just like the tired Hunter said, waiting for them at the airport was not a civilian passenger plane but a military green-painted transport aircraft and two fighter jets responsible for escort tasks.

After boarding was complete, after a short taxiing, the transport plane flew into the night sky, followed by two fighter jets — compared to old model transport aircraft, these two fighter jets are much more advanced, not only equipped with vertical take-off and landing functions but also optical camouflage armor.

Sun Hang looked out of the porthole, only to see two blurry shadows almost blending into the night, trailing the sides of the transport aircraft.

"'YMC-07 Night Owl' special fighter jet, a project jointly researched by Dubhe Tower and Siberian Heavy Industries," Yang Qi, sitting beside Sun Hang, quietly introduced, "The capability of optical camouflage comes from a type of mysterious creature called 'invisible fungus.' By coating the body with paint that carries the invisible fungus meme, the fighter can have optical camouflage functions."

"Does this thing work against mysterious creatures?" Sun Hang asked, "Feels like something flashy yet impractical."

"This thing isn't meant to tackle mysterious creatures," Yang Qi lowered her voice even more, "Xiazhou Federation is a product born under the pressure of mysterious creatures on human society; internally, there have always been disharmonious voices. In fact, more than fifty percent of the Federation's armed forces exist to maintain the Federation's stability, rather than to fend off mysterious creature invasions."

"Fifty percent is an understatement, at least seventy percent," the tall Hunter sitting in the front row turned around and said, "Not to mention, the Siberians to the north, the folks to the south, and the group to the northeast aren't on the same page with us, let alone those from across the ocean fleeing here - the blacks and whites."

"Has a war broke out within the Federation?" Sun Hang wondered, "How come I've never heard of such things?"

In his remaining memories, besides outside mysterious creatures, the Xiazhou Federation didn't have other threats, and such matters were never mentioned in records documenting federation history.

"Such matters definitely wouldn't be public," the tall Hunter said, "But war is unlikely, at most friction and clashes between different cities, especially those autonomy cities mainly composed of foreign populations, where a bit of conflict happens every year, but these things are never reported by the media."

Just when Sun Hang wanted to ask more, an abrupt light poured in through the porthole, leading to a sudden feeling of relief.

The radiant sunlight shone on the azure sky, the wings of the transport aircraft gliding over the white clouds, and this long-lost scene brought a slight relaxation to everyone's face in the cabin.

"We've flown out of the area covered by the Eternal Night," Yang Qi said, "Still within Shuzhou Territory, but quite close to Mist City."

Sun Hang pressed his face against the porthole and looked back toward the rear of the plane, only to see an endless darkness in the distance, separated by a distinct line from the normal sky—on one side was daytime, and the other was nighttime.

"From satellite imagery, the Shuzhou Region now looks like a shadow on the Xiazhou Federation's map," Yang Qi said.

"Like being shrouded by a black curtain?" Sun Hang wondered, could the Eternal Night block satellite signals, does that mean it's essentially a semicircular dome covering the entire Shuzhou Region?

"No, it's completely unobservable," Yang Qi shook her head, "Just like part of the data has been deleted."

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