A falcon soared high in the sky. Liu A'dou glanced up and immediately noticed it. That wasn't an ordinary hawk—there was a cord tied to its leg.
Kaitou Kid figured it out: the organization must use falcons to locate the general area, then pinpoint the exact location by sensing demonic energy, and finally dispatch a Greatsword from the local defense zone to eliminate the target. The robed agents would then arrive afterward to collect the fee.
This continent was an experimental zone. There were no nations here. The organization treated demon-slaying by Greatswords as a mandatory tax system, forcibly collecting large sums of money. That's how they kept the organization running—by mass-producing Greatswords to cleanse demons on this test continent.
The planet had two landmasses. From what he could tell, they had landed on one of them—called the experimental island. Chances were, the nations from the war-torn continent didn't fully investigate this place before picking it as a dumping ground, not realizing the "island" was a proper continent in its own right.
But Liu A'dou wasn't focused on that for now. What really caught his attention was that there were humans on this planet. What would the United Nations do about that? Colonize it? Or leave it alone?
One thing was certain—the wormhole couldn't be abandoned. A forward base was already being built. An Rong and Sony had made contact with the space station and were transmitting footage back to Earth.
This was Earth's first step onto an alien world, and they had run into this mess. It was a dilemma, for sure. The United Nations was definitely going to hold another emergency meeting.
Still, Liu A'dou thought the outcome would probably be to keep exploring. If there were resources, they'd never give up on Guohe. If there weren't, then it would shift to cultural exchange and research. Bloody colonization like during the Age of Discovery probably wouldn't happen, but to the locals, Earthlings were definitely not going to be welcomed with open arms.
This kind of situation was inevitable in the space age—just no one expected it to show up so soon.
For now, the wormhole was classified information. The public didn't know yet. But the major corporations were already in the loop and itching to jump in. Clearly, they were very interested.
Stark's satellite would reach the target coordinates soon. After that, other corporations would probably launch their own satellites or ships.
The U.S. wasn't sitting still either. Aside from the United Nations Defense Bureau's construction efforts, they were conducting their own studies of the wormhole. No way they'd let China monopolize it.
It was chaotic. But everyone's eyes were fixed on the wormhole—and the planet on the other side. You could say its appearance had completely derailed the development timelines of every country on Earth.
Liu A'dou's personal approach was: explore all you want, but don't get involved in local conflicts on Guohe, and don't interfere with the two nations at war on the main continent. Under those conditions, Earthlings could engage with the native humans here. For safety's sake, they could carve out a patch of this stateless test land to use as a base.
What he didn't know was whether any of the people here were actually protagonists from anime. Were all the compass directions already taken over by someone else? That's why he needed to meet a Greatsword in person—to get intel that only they could provide.
"Ahhh…"
A scream echoed from afar. Liu A'dou immediately sensed something and his eyes widened. The caravan that had just left was under attack. They hadn't gone far—just stuck nearby trying to calm Tola down. But a demon had suddenly appeared and was chasing down all those big guys like prey.
A'dou figured this must be the same demon that had been hiding in the forest earlier. Now it looked like it wanted live food.
Before Zhang Dong and the others could even react, Kaitou Kid had already flown off.
Ripple Dash!
Ripple was still very effective against abnormal creatures. It went straight into the demon's brain—not enough to kill, but it knocked it out cold.
"You guys okay?" Kid asked. He saw plenty of blood, but at least everyone was still alive.
Tola was drenched in cold sweat. He hadn't even processed what was happening before he was rescued. All he saw was the man in white gripping the demon by its neck. It was Tola's first time seeing a demon. This one had wings, long limbs, and sharp fangs. It had dropped down from the sky, landing right in the middle of their caravan and slaughtered without mercy. Anyone caught by its claws was instantly torn open, bleeding heavily. If it hadn't been hunting for live prey to share with its companion, they'd probably all be dead by now.
The demon clearly hadn't expected Kid to move that fast. It had planned to grab someone and fly off before the weird weapon-wielding humans could respond. But before it even caught anyone, Kid was already there.
"We're okay," the leader checked everyone's wounds. They were mostly superficial—none of them fatal.
Woo woo!~
Zhang Dong drove over with two soldiers. "Check them over."
Everyone had learned basic first aid. Though the two groups didn't talk, the locals could feel the goodwill from the Earthlings. This time, they didn't resist and let the clean white bandages be wrapped around their wounds.
Zhang Dong saw the demon that Kid had caught alive and was both shocked and curious. "Whoa... is this a bat?" It had gray skin and huge leathery wings—definitely not human. "So this is the man-eating demon?"
Kid nodded. "I think the other one's injured. That's why it came out alone."
"Right. Do we have any sturdy rope? Let's tie it up and hand it over to Sony and An Rong."
Zhang Dong was still uneasy. The demon didn't feel safe. "We can tie it up, but I doubt it'll behave. We do have some knockout gas—we could put it to sleep."
"Give it a try." Liu A'dou wasn't sure if it would even work on demons.
The caravan couldn't move forward for now. The wounded needed time to recover. They returned to the village again. When the leader saw the tree stump at the village entrance, he muttered, 'You're all this strong and still need a Greatsword?' He was growing more and more suspicious of Kid's group. Their clothes were weird, their language was weird, their weapons were weird—everything about them was weird.
An Rong and Sony were also stunned when they saw the demon. The creature was so bizarre—and it ate humans. Completely beyond belief.
Well, it actually ate human organs, but Earthlings didn't know that yet. For now, they just said demons ate people.
Besides the demons, Sony was also curious about the locals. He grabbed a syringe and tried to draw some blood. But the locals didn't understand at all and freaked out, thinking Sony was a demon in disguise.
Thankfully, Kid stepped in and calmed the whole ridiculous situation.
"Primitive," Sony grumbled, frustrated that he hadn't gotten a single sample. 'Don't they understand how harmless a blood draw is?' But these people were at a medieval level of science—they really didn't know.
An Rong managed to soothe Sony's mood. Then Sony's eyes lit up as he turned to the demon. 'If I can't draw blood from people, I can still draw blood from this thing, right?' With a twist of his hand, he pulled two full syringes of demon blood.
The demon was fitted with a respirator and kept unconscious by a mix of sleeping gas and oxygen. It had no chance to fight back.
At the wormhole's forward space station—nicknamed "Caterpillar"—modifications to the second landing ship were underway. It was expected to be finished in 48 hours.
Back at the wormhole's entry base, Wu Gang II had returned. From now on, it would handle all supply deliveries. Both bases were now fully operational. Superman had already stepped away from transport duty.
For now, the Bunny ship would stay near the wormhole to deliver small items and key scientists. Everything else was up to Kid. After all, he wasn't really that idle—well, let's say he was just very capable.