Bright day, endless night.
Demons and spirits, nowhere to hide.
Rebels and traitors, fear the holy light.
Green light eternal, shining for all ages!
The verses were carved into the stone wall, scarred by wind and frost, worn by the passage of time, yet still bursting with upright, righteous force from between the lines. Liu Su, a student of literature, couldn't help being stunned when she read them.
She looked around. It seemed to be a cave, lit by oil lamps, giving her the strange illusion of slipping through time. What had happened to her? The last thing she remembered was being swallowed by a wave of black smoke, and then she had ended up here. Could it be… she had time-traveled? Liu Su had watched too many time-travel dramas, after all.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" she called softly, afraid to disturb the history sleeping in this cave.
No one answered. Summoning her courage, Liu Su stood up. The cave wasn't large, and there wasn't much inside, but there was no exit. No matter how she circled, she returned to the same place. The most eye-catching thing remained the words on the wall. The calligraphy was rough, still immature, but faintly carried the air of a true master. This was her field of study. Even in this strange situation, she couldn't help lingering over the carvings.
Then she noticed a tiny signature tucked in the corner—Li Taibai.
? Liu Su immediately thought of Li Bai, the great Tang dynasty poet. But then she shook her head. Li Bai hadn't left any surviving calligraphy. The only piece attributed to him, Shangyangtai Tie, was of uncertain authenticity. Some said it was truly his, wild and unrestrained, brimming with the spirit of a mad poet. Others insisted it was the work of someone from the Song dynasty, not Li Bai's hand at all.
These lines before her carried none of that wild, untamed style. On the contrary, there was hesitation in the strokes, especially at the turns. Definitely not the great Li Bai. Most likely just coincidence.
Still, the four verses themselves were grand and forceful. What did they mean? They seemed to be about slaying demons and exorcising evil. But who exactly were they describing?
"Maybe… some local minor god?" Liu Su muttered, confused.
By now, Liu Su had been missing for 12 hours, and there was still no trace of her. Ming Wu, however, was safe. He thought it over again and again, and came to a conclusion: if someone wanted to capture him, they would never strike while he was being watched. That meant he had to be alone.
Ming Wu began plotting how to slip away from Ben's watchful eyes. If he was alone, then he would definitely be taken. He had already tossed Liu A'dou's warning out of his mind. To him, if bait wasn't swallowed, then it was worthless. He had to be caught.
Ouyang was thinking the same. He had fought hard for the chance to prove himself, and he wasn't about to let it go. In this, he and Ming Wu shared the same thought.
Ming Wu had to be captured—that was the only way. So the two of them acted at the same time. Strange as it was, even though their personalities were completely different, their ideas often aligned.
Ouyang came up with a way to hold Ben back, giving Ming Wu the chance to slip into the forest. Ben was caught up entirely by Ouyang and thought, Master, don't blame me. I can't hurt him.
Ming Wu dashed out of the pagoda at top speed, vanishing into the forest. He believed that as long as he was alone, nothing could go wrong.
"Youth, always charging headfirst." Ming Wu's every move was already within A'dou's grasp. Originally, he had planned for Ben to guard Ming Wu while he disguised himself as the boy and wandered around to draw the enemy out. But now it seemed unnecessary. Ming Wu, like a calf unafraid of tigers, didn't fear any enemy.
"General, Ming Wu and the temporary teacher have both gone out," the guards reported.
"Let them go." The general decided it was better to leave these supernatural incidents to Liu A'dou. He had called him in for exactly this reason—to let the students learn how to deal with such matters.
From ancient times, China had countless ghost stories and legends. Yet even in this modern era ruled by superheroes, the government still had no professional organization to handle supernatural crises. Everything was left to wandering mystics and eccentric figures.
Back during the War of Resistance against Japan, the Jin-Cha-Ji base had once produced the "Eight Immortals," a small anti-Japanese squad formed by eight extraordinary individuals. They were the best-documented superpowered group in modern Chinese history. But as the global center of power shifted toward Europe and America, even strange phenomena seemed to bypass China. The few scattered incidents never caught the government's attention.
That changed in recent times. As China rapidly rose again to challenge the world's top position, supernatural events returned like migrating birds. With hidden realms being uncovered and sinister forces threatening the regime, the leadership wanted to establish a Chinese superhero team.
But the gifted ones hid themselves, unwilling to serve the government. That left the state with little ability to handle such crises.
Kaitou Kid, however, was seen as a partner. The general hoped Kid could provide more help—maybe even copy together a "Justice League" for China.
Liu A'dou understood perfectly. He had studied China's superhero history before, and what he found shocked him. Almost all the superpowered heroes had appeared during the anti-Japanese war. Besides the legendary "Eight Immortals," each with unique abilities, there had also been "Captain China," who achieved brilliant victories behind enemy lines.
In World War II, Captain China was hailed as the Eastern counterpart to Captain America. In Shanghai, his very name made Japanese soldiers tremble. There was also "Unity Man," who believed in 'strength through unity' and possessed arms so powerful he could literally tear apart enemy soldiers. But those were wartime days. In peacetime, extraordinary people became quiet, hidden in the forests or disguised within the cities, fading into obscurity.
When Liu A'dou read these accounts, he couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. Was he trapped in one of those over-the-top anti-Japanese dramas? "Hand-tearing enemies" turned out to be an actual, recorded part of this superhero world.
Now, as China returned to the world stage, it faced unprecedented challenges. Supervillains had already set their sights on it. Inside, forces like Liangshan Outlaw grew in strength. Outside, notorious dark sorcerers like Dr. Man spread their influence. And now, there was the looming crisis of alien invasion. That made Kaitou Kid's willingness—or refusal—to help even more important.
The general knew A'dou had already given a lot. He owed nothing to the country. So instead of bluntly asking, the general spoke in circles, hoping to keep him emotionally tied to home. Bonds had to be maintained. For example, this student recruitment project originally had nothing to do with A'dou, but the general had given him several extra slots to pick from freely.
That was why, when things went wrong, Liu A'dou was eager to find solutions. Who knew—maybe this crisis could even turn into an opportunity.
Meanwhile, Ming Wu was sprinting deeper into the mountains. His instincts screamed danger lurked close by, but he still pressed forward, knowingly walking into the tiger's den. Though he often acted like he resented his elder brother, in truth he respected Ming Wen deeply. He admired his brother's academic brilliance. If not, Ming Wu wouldn't have dropped out of school, choosing another path just to try and surpass him.
Now, he ignored his own safety. All he wanted was to find the murderer who had taken his brother's life. Cold on the surface, burning within—his true nature showed without disguise.