Ophelia, Organization's No. 4, the bloodstained warrior—driven by the death of her family at the hands of Awakened Ones—was fanatically committed to hunting them down. Her special skill was Ripple Sword.
Ophelia died. Then she came back to life. Even now, she was still confused.
At the small village where the Earth team was stationed, the dropship landed again, and everyone got busy. Tora, who had been to space, was no longer that naive kid. Now he walked around with his nose in the air and didn't even flinch at the sight of the two Claymore-looking girls.
As for the Claymores, when they saw the dropship for the first time, their reactions were numb. The dropship was amazing, sure—but not as amazing as bringing someone back from the dead. Irene even had a look that said, 'So that's how it is.' Only someone from the sky could possess such powers.
No one said much about the two disabled girls Kid brought back.
Kid, now acting as translator, Started teaching the Claymores English and the Earthlings the local language. Being a teacher is always hard with slow students, but even with smart ones, you can't learn a completely new language from scratch in a short time.
Liu A'dou got anxious. He couldn't afford to waste time. He used the quantum radio to contact Superman, hoping he had some kind of high-tech translation device.
Although someone with a Kryptonian brain didn't really need such tools, Superman actually did have one. But it was only a blueprint. If A'dou wanted the real thing, Superman would need to make it first—and for bulk production, it'd take about two days.
Fine, two days it is. Kid could wait. He preordered ten sets from Superman. Of course, money was never discussed between the two. In the future, Kid would just pay him back with some big news.
With translation devices in hand, Kid was finally free from his doomed teaching gig. The Kryptonian translator worked through brainwave synchronization, no vocabulary database needed—fast and efficient.
Kid made another trip back to Earth. When he reached the wormhole exit at the 'Caterpillar' space station, he noticed it had grown a lot—almost like it was forming a cocoon. So far, aside from intelligent life on 'Einstein Planet,' no other alien civilizations had been found. The Caterpillar served as an early-warning outpost, mainly to detect any dangerous alien presence that might threaten the solar system via the wormhole. But with humanity's outdated tech, getting a complete scan of even this Planet system was tough, let alone anything beyond.
The Bunny, on the other hand, was powerful enough to figure out that this Planet system was surrounded by an incredibly complex gravitational field, with a chaotic asteroid belt outside. It was too dangerous for flight. This, at least, boosted the security level of the wormhole.
More satellites had been launched at the wormhole's entrance, sent by various nations and corporations. Since the United Nations was in the loop, there were basically no secrets.
Stark knew. Luthor knew. Osborn knew. All the tycoons knew. And they were all capable of launching satellites here fast. Most new energy technologies were in the hands of these mega-conglomerates.
But since China was the first to reach the wormhole, those corporate satellites weren't allowed too close. They had to stay at least 20,000 meters away, only allowed to record footage—no contact or passage. If they crossed the line, they'd be shot down by space fighters.
In short, the wormhole area was getting busier by the day. Kid picked up speed and flew toward Earth.
Earth was still the same. The bad guys were still the same. The heroes were still the same. Before he could even head to the Arctic to meet Superman, Liu A'dou was stopped by his wife. Ada wasn't happy at all about how he kept leaving their daughter in someone else's care for extended periods.
Even though Liu A'dou explained that he had to focus his energy on wormhole defense, he emphasized that it was to ensure 'Einstein Planet' could become an ally of Earth. With both planets located at the two ends of the wormhole and both inhabited by humans, a relationship of trust had to be built. They had to prevent the wormhole from being used as a path for invasion.
Earth was situated on the edge of the Milky Way, and Einstein Planet was surrounded by a strange asteroid belt. For now, both worlds seemed safe. But no one knew when a real threat might appear—either on Earth's side, endangering Einstein Planet, or on their side, threatening Earth. That's why defending the wormhole had to be a joint effort.
Ada understood well. Her intelligence network had grown rapidly, spreading across most government agencies. She knew how important the wormhole was. But Nono was their daughter, and she'd entrusted her to A'dou.
Liu A'dou looked innocent. "Ada-jie, Chief Hippolyta will take good care of Nono."
"But a child should grow up with her parents." Ada really wasn't letting it go.
Liu A'dou felt he should be grateful for her trust, but it was a bit unreasonable for Ada to be so busy with work and still expect him to take full-time care of their daughter. Ada was pretty willful with her job, almost demanding A'dou take on the housework while she worked outside. It was a total role reversal—man inside, woman outside.
He didn't expect to end up in a cliché family drama—both parents working, neglecting the kid. Then the wife, while working, blames the husband for also working. Honestly, Liu A'dou was a little unhappy about it. But as a man, he had to be more understanding. Besides, a woman complaining to her husband was actually a sign of trust between them.
So he tried to convince Ada. "Ada-jie, Nono will be fine. And lately there are a lot of babies on Themyscira. Nono will have plenty of playmates. If I bring her with me, she won't grow up in a good environment. You know I'm all over the place, always running around. That's not good for her. But Themyscira is different. It has great natural surroundings, and Hippolyta raised Diana into a great woman. She'll definitely be better at caring for Nono than I am."
"…" Ada was finally convinced. A'dou really wasn't reliable. She should've known. "Then I'll send something to Nono."
Liu A'dou didn't stop her. Even if he thought it was unnecessary, he didn't want to ruin Ada's mood. After all, women always change once they become moms. The chance of turning into a total busybody was as high as 70%. Back when they first got married, Ada was completely against letting Diana train Nono. Now she couldn't wait for their daughter to become a tough girl who wouldn't get bullied.
Liu A'dou wisely retreated. He fled to the Arctic. Superman was waiting for him.
"How's the situation?" Superman casually asked.
"The locals on Einstein Planet are human too. But they live alongside a strange species called the Descendants of the Dragon. These creatures are terrifying. Their flesh and blood can mutate humans into savage ogres." A'dou summarized in one sentence.
"Humans?" Superman hadn't expected such a coincidence. "That's probably rarer than winning the lottery."
Absolutely. "When did those humans arrive on that planet?" Superman asked.
"No idea. Their history is pretty undeveloped, and there's a war going on up there. I haven't had time to dig deeper. But I think it's been thousands of years. Maybe some Earth god took them there long ago."
"The age of the gods, huh?" Superman knew there were plenty of gods linked to Earth. If Odin and Zeus were real, then other deities likely existed too. It was completely possible that some higher cosmic civilization took their followers to other planets.
"So what are you planning to do?" Superman wanted to know what Kid intended.
"Now that contact's been made, I want to form an alliance."
Superman nodded in agreement. As a superpowered being, he rarely considered how weaker people felt. Even when he did, he didn't always understand their mindset—because he'd never been weak. Whether the people of Einstein Planet wanted an alliance wasn't something he thought about. He believed he came with good intentions, and being accepted was only natural. An alliance was the next logical step.
Liu A'dou wasn't like Superman. He was more like Batman. He wanted the alliance to happen naturally. An alliance was the goal, but a lot of groundwork had to be laid first—just like performing a magic trick.