"Aaahhh—!" Tola and Mu'er were still screaming, and the rest of the locals weren't doing much better.
They were flying, and outside the window, it was nothing but clouds.
But the landing ship wasn't going to stop just because of a little panic. It climbed higher and higher, straight into the atmosphere, until they were weightless. That feeling was something they'd never experienced before—completely at a loss.
"Calm down," Zhang Dong tried to reassure them in heavily accented local speech. Maybe dragging them into space was a mistake after all?
"Ahhh—!" The screaming continued. Drool floated everywhere in the zero-gravity cabin, and the Earth soldiers were visibly disgusted.
"Should've just hit them with a tranquilizer," Dongyang muttered.
"That's enough. If you've got nothing useful to say, don't say anything at all," Zhang Dong snapped, shooting a glare at Dongyang. He kept trying to calm the locals down, and it took a long while before they finally stopped panicking.
Tola, braver than most and always open to new things—that's why he joined the delivery team in the first place—curiously Planeted out the dark window. "Are we… in the sky? Isn't the sky supposed to be blue?"
Sony explained, "That's because of light scattering..."
But that answer just opened the floodgates to even more questions from Tola. One question after another poured out, and Sony, who had only just begun learning the local language, Started to feel the pressure. Even coming up with the word 'scattering' had taken him a while. There were no local equivalents for many scientific terms—how was he supposed to explain?
Back on the ground, Galatea and the agent arrived at the now-empty village and saw all sorts of strange things they'd never seen before. Of course, Zhang Dong had dismantled all the important equipment, leaving behind only lights and batteries.
"The Yoma was in this house."
The agent wasn't afraid and pushed the door open. Inside, he found a Yoma in deep sleep.
"Want me to kill it?"
"No, no." The agent stepped closer, curious. "I've never seen such a calm Yoma. It's actually sleeping." Soon, he noticed the mask on its face. 'Is that why?' he wondered. The other Yoma that had been dissected had already been buried. With no formaldehyde, they couldn't preserve the body. They had just taken some photos and tissue samples.
All of that had to be taken back—handled by the cleanup team. The agent only needed to file the report. Having seen something this incredible, he had to return quickly.
The Cleaners would stay nearby to secure the area. The agent and Galatea needed to head back fast.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, while Kaitou Kid was working with Batman to prepare equipment, he had no idea Zhang Dong had already chosen to retreat. There were a lot of things to get ready, so Kid planned to stay a while. He used the chance to visit his daughter but found that Themyscira had a few more newborns since last time. It seemed that with the Pandora gem returned, Goddess Hera had shown mercy once again.
Themyscira was full of joy. Kid didn't stay long—he gathered up what he needed. If he was going to trip up the organization, then the more gadgets, the better.
By the time he set out again, it had already been seven or eight hours. With everything packed, he rushed back to the fruit-core planet.
It had already been three months since the wormhole first appeared, and they'd been on the fruit-core planet for half a month. Overall, there hadn't been any real danger yet. The wormhole remained under Earth's tight control. Everything was still in order—for now.
But Yoma showing up on this planet nicknamed "fruit-core" was a serious problem. Liu A'dou originally thought they could just go with the flow—after all, things were supposed to end in a happy reunion. But the situation had taken an unexpected turn. The two scientists had discovered the parasitic cells and even wanted to cure the Yoma. That made things complicated.
Now A'dou had no choice but to adjust his approach and juggle all sides' interests to navigate this mess.
Since he'd made up his mind, Liu A'dou decided the Claymores would become humanity's eternal allies.
With that resolve, Liu A'dou returned to the fruit-core planet 20 hours later.
What he found was that everyone had evacuated, and the village was surrounded by Yoma.
"…" A'dou figured these Yoma were sent by the Organization, and Zhang Dong had chosen to retreat. That was a clear decision. A'dou sensed the presence of two powerful Yoma—likely male Awakened.
Awakened referred to Claymores who had released too much Yoma energy and crossed the limit, transforming into Yoma-kind that craved human organs. It usually took a team of four Claymores to handle an Awakened, and a single-digit ranked Claymore had to lead the group.
There were 47 Claymore rankings—the lower the number, the stronger the fighter. And the stronger a Claymore was before awakening, the more dangerous they became after. The most powerful Awakened were called Abyssals. Right now, the north, south, and west of the continent were each ruled by one Abyssal.
The Organization was based in the east, and the central region held the largest human city—Holy City.
Claymores mainly operated in the central and eastern parts of the Experimental Continent. The other three directions were forbidden zones—Abyssals were very territorial.
Liu A'dou dropped his gear and muttered to himself, 'The Organization really doesn't care about appearances, huh?' Then again, he'd been scheming to trap them. Why would they bother giving him any face? Besides, did they even know who he was?
"Captain Zhang, where are you?" A'dou had to confirm their safety.
Good news—they were all fine, currently resting at the Caterpillar Space Station. Zhang Dong planned to resupply with more weapons before returning, and A'dou told him to take his time.
"Stop hiding. Come on out," A'dou shouted toward the forest.
Two men stepped out. They looked completely ordinary, but A'dou knew they were male Awakened.
There had only ever been one generation of male Claymores on the Experimental Continent, and they had all awakened—without exception. Some of them had even become the Organization's Cleaners, helping suppress the others.
"We're just passing by," one of the Awakened tried to lie, but there was no fooling Liu A'dou.
"Cut the crap. The Organization sent you to surround this place, didn't they?" A'dou's blunt question made both middle-aged men's faces darken.
The seemingly average guy grinned, drool leaking as his face twisted into something monstrous. "Since you already know, no point pretending. You're coming with us."
A'dou watched as their teeth became sharp fangs. 'Well, this is one way to extend an invitation,' he thought. "Sure. Lead the way."
One of the Awakened revealed his true form—giant wings stretched out behind him, a rare flying type. "Organs…"
"Heh." Trying to scare me? Liu A'dou vanished on the spot.
Before they could react, Liu A'dou had smashed the winged Awakened's head into the dirt. "You'd better stop saying words I don't like. Or I won't be so polite next time."
"What the hell?!" The Awakened hadn't even seen A'dou move. "You're dead!"
The other one transformed too—into a bull with a pair of lightning-shaped horns that jutted forward like blades. Without hesitation, he charged, aiming to skewer A'dou.
"Hmph!" Liu A'dou vanished again and launched a kick that sent the lightning bull flying. "I already warned you—shut up and take me to the Organization. That's all you need to do."
'Wait, who's the Awakened here again?' For a brief second, both Awakened were questioning everything. But Liu A'dou's strength was far beyond them. They had no choice but to submit. The flying Awakened obediently carried Liu A'dou toward the Organization in the east, while the other stayed behind to guard the supplies.