Liu A'dou looked at the unfamiliar face in the mirror and chuckled. His disguises were getting more and more realistic—up close, no one would be able to tell there was even a layer of anything on his face.
He had ten admission letters in hand, given to him by the general. These letters allowed Liu A'dou to send any promising young people he selected to the Starschool. He was surprised at first that the Defense Bureau had decided to recruit talent by opening a school. But thinking deeper, it made sense. Clearly, some forward-thinking people had foreseen that Earth would soon have more opportunities to interact with civilizations beyond the planet. They'd need an institution to train people specifically for that.
After negotiations among various nations, this international school had been formed. It was a solution of sorts. Big countries built schools, smaller countries sent students, and everyone ended up competing together. Those who passed would enter the Defense Bureau, and supposedly, the proportion of people from each country wouldn't be influenced by their nation's size. On paper, seats were earned based on personal ability.
But in reality, large countries still had the upper hand. They built the schools and had more students. Unless small nations produced outrageous talents, the ratio wouldn't change. The schools just made it seem like the big countries were being generous. In truth, if smaller nations didn't send strong candidates, they wouldn't even get the slots they could've had otherwise.
So no matter how you looked at it, Starschool was built to favor the big players. And of course, they wouldn't have agreed to it otherwise. That said, middle-tier countries also benefited, since they had decent talent reserves. It was the truly small countries that got the short end of the stick.
Still, that was global politics. None of that had anything to do with Liu A'dou. The general wanted him to pick a few people, so he was more than happy to go out and enjoy a little holiday.
Things had been quiet on Einstein Star lately—frankly, it was boring. So why not walk around Earth and take a breather? Since returning from the other world, he hadn't really relaxed. First the wormhole, then the expedition, then Neo—he'd been nonstop. Now was the perfect time to unwind.
But before heading back to China, he had one more stop to make. He needed to visit Gotham City and check in on Luciela. Bruce had contacted him to say she was awake. Liu A'dou figured that even though she'd lost the meat chunk, her physical condition had improved a lot. It hadn't even been two weeks, and she was already up and recovering fast.
He had to deliver a translator to her. Might as well let her settle down peacefully on Earth. She wouldn't be able to stir up any trouble here, especially not in Gotham.
Luciela was smart and had already learned to use simple words to talk to Earthlings. But her favorite thing right now was watching TV. Through the screen, she discovered how amazing Earth was—so many things she'd never seen before.
Her first impression of Earth was this: people who could fly, like Kid, were called superheroes. They went around saving people. Especially the one with the red cape—Superman—he was the strongest superhero on the planet. And just a few days ago, Kaitou Kid had taken over the screen for a while. Luciela ended up changing the channel. She wasn't interested in him; she wanted to learn more about Earth.
Earth had towering buildings, tons of cars, flying planes, steel ships, and long trains. All this new stuff opened her eyes. She made up her mind that someday the South would need to have these things too.
When Liu A'dou arrived, Luciela was sitting there, eyes sparkling, glued to the television. He noticed she looked completely focused, fully immersed in what she was watching.
"Is the TV interesting?" Liu A'dou asked with a smile.
Luciela heard someone speaking her native language. She turned her head and saw a cheerful stranger walking in, holding a bouquet and a fruit basket—totally looking like someone on a hospital visit.
She didn't recognize him. Luciela realized she didn't know who this person was, but his voice sounded a little familiar. She asked uncertainly, "Kid?"
"That's right, it's me. Looks like you're recovering well." Liu A'dou placed the gifts beside her bed. "These are for you."
"Why did you bring me to Earth? What's your real purpose?" Luciela didn't believe Kid had done anything out of kindness.
"You were injured. I brought you here for treatment." Kid took out a translator and handed it to her. "Looks like you'll be discharged in just over a month. After that, stay on Earth for a while. Learn about local customs. We Earthlings are pretty friendly, and you might enjoy trying out things you didn't have back home."
Luciela quickly put the translator over her ear. Now she could communicate with Earthlings properly. "I was planning to stay on Earth for a while anyway. Didn't need you to say it."
"Heh, right." Liu A'dou had more things prepared. "This is a phone. You know how to use it?"
"I've seen one. The nurse who takes care of me has something like this." Luciela replied. "So this is called a phone, huh?" Another new word. "Nurse" was already a loanword she'd picked up, a phonetic translation into Einsteinian.
"How do I use it?" She took the phone and turned it over a few times, totally lost.
Liu A'dou had to teach her step by step—how to make calls, send texts, surf the web. Soon, Luciela completely ignored him. She was instantly hooked on the smartphone.
The TV could only switch channels, but the phone had way more content. Even though she only recognized numbers like 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, the pictures were enough. She looked at images, watched videos. If she didn't recognize words, she just picked videos with narration—she could understand spoken language anyway.
But it didn't take long for her to get a headache. There was just too much new stuff. Every single item came with a new word, and the translator only gave her phonetic renderings. To truly understand, she had to memorize the terms and what they meant. But Luciela couldn't remember that many new words or the objects they were tied to.
"Headache?" Kid had expected this—too much information all at once was overwhelming. "Take it slow. First, I'll teach you how to charge it. This here is the charger."
"Charger, another new word. I can't take it anymore!" Luciela genuinely felt overloaded and needed a break.
"If you've got the phone, just call me if anything comes up." But Liu A'dou noticed she kept staring at him. "What? Got something to say? Make it quick, I've got a flight to catch."
"Nothing really. I just finally understand why you've been helping us on Einstein Star," Luciela said.
"You figured it out?" Liu A'dou thought, 'If you knew I was helping, why'd you keep trying to scam me?'
"Because you're a superhero on Earth. You help people. Just like the Claymores slay demons."
Liu A'dou had nothing to say to that. 'So just because I'm a superhero, I'm supposed to be scammed?' But he only smiled. He had chosen this path himself. Might as well take things as they came. When you help a lot of people, a few are bound to be ungrateful. "Get some rest. See you next time."