"Damn it, this 24-hour night almost drove me crazy," Haozi grumbled while brushing his teeth.
The others were either washing clothes or their faces. With everyone moving about, the village finally felt alive again.
What really messed with them was the planet's 48-hour day. The double gravity, on the other hand, wasn't such a big deal anymore.
A new day began as the morning sun rose. They decided the direction the sun came from was east, then assigned the rest as southeast, northwest, and so on.
Vroom vroom—
The six-wheeled off-road vehicle came to a stop. Zhang Dong and the Russian soldier Vadali jumped down. "We set up cameras all around. If any creature approaches, we'll spot it early."
It was now decided: the original landing site was abandoned. This village would be the new base of operations. As for the drones, they would stay active. With solar panels, they could keep going indefinitely. One would likely fly overhead soon, serving as their eyes in the sky.
Once the sun came up, An Rong and Sony headed to inspect last night's battlefield, accompanied by Haozi and Oss. An Rong collected samples of the purple blood.
Kaitou Kid was on camera watch. Nothing so far. But he knew the creature was likely still hiding in the forest.
An Rong analyzed the blood, and the results were shocking. Aside from red blood cells, the rest of the components were almost identical to human blood.
Even chimpanzee blood didn't match human blood this closely. These monster cells were bizarre. Typically, the difference between blood types in species lies in the antigens on the surface of the cells. But this monster's blood—aside from being purple—had platelets and white cells structured just like human blood.
Under the microscope, An Rong saw the purple hue came from a parasitic cell clinging to the red blood cells.
"Hisss..." An Rong sucked in a sharp breath. She had a bad feeling.
Just then, the drone picked up new footage—there was a convoy heading toward them. Everyone gathered at once.
"They're really human," someone said. This time, the drone clearly captured actual living people. No doubt about it.
Two eyes, two ears, one nose, one mouth, two arms, two legs—"Just like us."
Kaitou Kid said in a low voice, "At their current pace, they'll be in camera range soon. They're headed straight for the village."
"Perfect! We can finally talk with the local civilization," Sony said cheerfully.
Zhang Dong stared at the screen, analyzing the footage for a while. "Their clothing looks simple. They're carrying iron swords. They don't seem like a threat. Let them come." He planned to control them and gather intel on the region.
They got their weapons ready to greet the aliens.
There were five horse-drawn wagons, packed with grain. Urged on by the drivers, they crossed the vast grasslands, heading for the forest. After the woods, they'd reach their destination.
By Earth time, Einstein Planet's orbit took two Earth years, and each day lasted 48 hours—twice that of Earth. So overall, it wasn't that different. A year here was just twice as long, and so was a day.
This was the convoy's second crossing of the grasslands this year. The last time went well with no losses. This time, they had one encounter with bandits after setting off, but the rest of the journey had been smooth. Now, they were almost out of the grasslands. The convoy leader cracked his whip, urging the carts to speed up.
Last time, they had also stayed at the village up ahead and were warmly welcomed. They even picked up a capable new recruit. "Tola, your hometown's just ahead," someone called out.
"I really miss my brother... and my sister-in-law's cooking," Tola shouted from the first wagon. "You're all welcome at my home."
"Haha, your brother can really hold his liquor. This time, I'm definitely gonna drink him under the table," the leader laughed. He remembered that hearty guy well.
"Mule, don't fall behind. I'm speeding up!" Tola stood up and shouted to the driver of the last wagon.
Mule just waved his hand, letting them go ahead.
They could finally see the outline of the village. Tola was thrilled. After half a year, he was finally home again. He had saved up two gold coins hidden in his shoe soles, ready to give to his brother and sister-in-law today. Their parents had passed away early, and his brother and sister-in-law raised him. Now he could finally start repaying them.
That thought made his homesickness even stronger.
Whoosh—
A shadow swept over their heads. The leader looked up, puzzled. "That's one huge bird."
The others looked up curiously too. 'How could such a big bird exist on the grasslands?'
"Tola, the birds in your village sure are huge. If we shot one down, it could feed the whole town."
"I've never seen a bird that big either," Tola blinked, clearly amazed.
It wasn't a bird at all—it was a drone flying high overhead.
"They're here." Zhang Dong led his soldiers into hiding and had An Rong handle the contact. A woman would seem less aggressive. Kaitou Kid stood behind, keeping watch.
Something felt off. Tola could sense it as they neared the village. This time of day, the villagers should've been working the fields, but not a single person was in sight. Unease started to grow in his heart.
"Tola, what's wrong with your face?" the leader asked when he saw Tola's expression darken.
"Nothing."
But the leader felt it too. It was too quiet. He'd visited many villages and seen this kind of thing before. Usually, it meant the villagers were already gone.
He raised his hand, signaling everyone to slow down. As they drew nearer, they spotted two figures up ahead. Definitely not locals—they didn't look like farmers at all.
"Stop!" the leader frowned.
Tola gripped the handle of his axe. The thing he feared most might have really happened.
"Tola, stay calm." The leader stepped forward and shouted, "Who are you?!"
He only held back from attacking because he saw it was a woman. If they'd looked like bandits, a fight would've already broken out.
An Rong froze. She didn't understand a word. She turned to look at Kaitou Kid.
Kid gave a subtle shake of his head. He didn't understand either. He was fluent in many Earth languages, but this alien tongue was new to him.
Still, he signaled to An Rong to stay calm.
"Who are you?!" the leader repeated.
Kaitou Kid stepped forward and took a deep breath. This time, he had no choice but to scan their minds. Liu A'dou would make sure it didn't hurt.
In under a minute, he roughly scanned the memories of both the leader and Tola and picked up the local language. "We're not bad people. We're just borrowing a place to stay."
The leader frowned. Borrowing? If they were guests, shouldn't the hosts have come out to greet them?
Tola couldn't hold it in anymore. "Where are the villagers?!"
"Sorry. When we got here, they were already gone. We're just using the empty houses," Kaitou Kid replied.
"You're lying!" Tola refused to believe it.
"Calm down, Tola."
Meanwhile, An Rong stared at Kaitou Kid in disbelief as he spoke fluent alien language. 'Just how many skills does this guy have?' When she'd first seen him flying around the galaxy, she thought it was all a magician's trick. But after seeing him fly, lift heavy objects, and now this—no one could still think it was magic. Kaitou Kid was impossible to figure out. Maybe that was part of what made a superhero so captivating.