Green blood gushed out. The Demon clutched its throat, its lobster-like eyes wide, and sank to its knees unwillingly.
"First kill achieved. Reward: thirty skill points and fifty experience points." In his mind, the Destiny System suddenly broadcast a system notification.
First kill? Wang Lan murmured, immediately grabbing Song Jia and running outside.
Along the way, Song Jia remained silent, perhaps terrified by the Demon's monstrous and frightful appearance. Suddenly, Song Jia lifted her head and looked at Wang Lan. "Brother..."
"Jiajia, don't be afraid. I'll protect you."
"Was that a member of the Demon Clan from our textbooks just now?"
"Yes, a Demon! It must be a low-ranking Demon. There are many types of Demon Clan members. The blood of low-ranking Demons is mostly green and has a foul, fishy smell."
"Demons really do look terrifying. Such invaders should all be killed."
"Yes, I'll do my best."
「At the entrance of the Multi-wheel Bilingual Academy, a school bus wobbled to a stop at the school gate. The security guard walked out of his booth with a puzzled expression.」
"The traffic was terrible. I've never encountered such congestion before," the driver said with a smile, rolling down the window.
"What are you doing at the school?" asked the security guard curiously.
"Huh? Weren't you the ones who booked a ride to Sky Curtain Lake?"
"The bus left nearly an hour ago, and you're just getting here? That's not right. The school only booked two buses. Are you sure our school booked you?"
"Look, here's the order information, my license plate number..."
"You're Route Two? Then who was driving the Route Two bus that left earlier? Wait, let me make a call to confirm."
「At the Sky Curtain Lake Resort Area, Mr. Huang was also frantically making phone calls.」
"What's going on? We all left together, but I'm here and there's no sign of them. Their phones have been out of service too... Could something have happened?"
The students of the Multi-wheel Bilingual Academy were all from wealthy or influential families. The school always took great care to ensure the children's safety, even if it was a hassle. When the school leaders learned of the situation, they immediately checked but found no information on this particular bus at all.
At this point, the school leaders were sweating profusely. They promptly reported to the traffic management department to check the whereabouts of the bus.
The safety of more than twenty children, and by extension, their wealthy and influential parents, was at stake, so the traffic management department naturally cooperated fully. But strangely, once the bus cleared the congested area, it headed straight for the Ring City National Highway and then vanished.
"Send police cars to search. A bus can't just disappear without a trace."
"Call the mayor," said the head of the traffic bureau with a grave expression.
"Ah? Isn't that unnecessary? We don't need to inform the mayor, do we?"
"Qin Weimin, a military advisor from the Southeast Military Region headquarters, was also on that bus. Furthermore, the bus itself is suspicious; our vehicle registration system has no record of it. I'm afraid it was deliberately targeted."
"This is bad... Director, you make the call."
「At the headquarters of the Tianjian Bureau in Suzhou City.」
The phone on Wang Qianfeng's desk suddenly rang. "Hello?"
Suddenly, Wang Qianfeng stood up. "Director."
"Yes, dispatch a team to search immediately." After hanging up, Wang Qianfeng picked up another phone. "Have Xu Shiyun come to my office."
「Running frantically with Song Jia, Wang Lan soon spotted the bus ahead. It seemed to be on the verge of departing.」
"Hey, wait a moment—"
Wang Lan hurriedly called out. Though the bus's brakes were broken, it had just started moving, so it quickly came to a stop.
"Young man, didn't Mr. Qiu say you were by the canyon entrance?" Mr. Qinqin asked as he opened the door to let Wang Lan in.
Hm? Upon hearing this, Wang Lan furrowed his brows and quietly covered Song Jia's mouth. "Mr. Qin, where are you driving?"
"Song Jia, come here, come to your teacher. Hello, Wang Lan. Mr. Qin told me you went looking for us. After we passed through the woods, we found the canyon exit, but it was blocked by rubble. There's a road just outside the exit.
"So, we had Mr. Qin drive the bus over here first. Once we clear the rocks, we can leave this cursed place," Mr. Qiu said with a smile, then gestured for Song Jia to come closer. "Jiajia, come here..."
"Brother... the teacher is missing an ear..." Song Jia said softly, her face buried in Wang Lan's chest.
Damn, how sharp is this girl's eyesight? Spotting a missing ear hidden under hair?
But Song Jia's words made Wang Lan even more certain that something was wrong with this Mr. Qiu. Or rather, all the parents who had gone exploring are probably done for.
"Kids, settle down. Your uncle is about to drive," Mr. Qin said with a smile.
Wang Lan strode into the bus, appearing to look for a seat. But as he passed Mr. Qiu, the fruit knife hidden behind his back flashed out, plunging deeply into Mr. Qiu's eye socket.
Green blood spurted out. Wang Lan swiftly pulled out the fruit knife and, before Mr. Qiu could react, plunged it into her other eye socket.
Wang Lan's movements were too fast, his strikes too ruthless. The two stabs took less than two seconds. This scene left the elementary students completely stunned, their minds blank.
The driver, Mr. Qin, was also startled by Wang Lan's sudden attack, but his mind didn't go blank. Instead, he instantly analyzed the situation. When he saw green blood gushing from Mr. Qiu's wound, his tense nerves relaxed slightly.
"Ah— You bastard..." A rough male voice suddenly erupted from Mr. Qiu's mouth. Wang Lan didn't dare hesitate. He threw Mr. Qiu to the ground and stabbed fiercely at his forehead with the fruit knife.
CRACK! With a crisp sound, the fruit knife broke, but the blade remained lodged in the Demon's brain. The Demon convulsed on the ground, its body rapidly deforming.
"Open the door!" The bus door opened, and Wang Lan threw the Demon's corpse out.
"Why did you just throw the corpse out?" Mr. Qin asked in surprise.
"Shouldn't I have?"
"Aren't you going to extract the Soul Bead?"
I completely forgot in my nervousness! Wang Lan slapped his forehead. Soul Beads are pure, round orbs found in the brains of Demons and Exotic Beasts, containing pure Star Power. Star Martial Warriors can absorb Soul Beads to supplement their Star Power or use them to raise their Star Martial level.
In layman's terms, Soul Beads are like elixirs for Star Martial Warriors. However, these elixirs cannot be crafted; they can only be obtained by hunting.
"It looks like my guess wasn't wrong..." Mr. Qin lit a cigarette, taking a heavy drag with a solemn gaze. "You don't mind, do you?"
"I don't mind." Wang Lan was somewhat discomposed. Although he had acted decisively moments before, it was an adrenaline-fueled response to danger. Now that the immediate crisis had passed, his mind was in turmoil.
History books were filled with tales of the bitter feud between humans and the Demon Clan, chronicling endless blood debts. But when truly faced with it, how many people could confront war with the Demon Clan so calmly?
How many of those who constantly clamored to exterminate the Demon Clan and avenge past atrocities would actually act on their words when they encountered Demons, charging to the front lines with blades and guns?
Wang Lan was just a visitor from another world. To him, the existence of the Demon Clan defied logic even more than his own transmigration.
"My name is Qin Weimin."
"I'm Wang Lan!"
"I'm a military advisor in the Southeast Military Region and also a weapons researcher. When I discovered our cell phone signals were blocked, I suspected we might have entered a Different Dimensional Space.
"To avoid causing panic, I didn't disclose the full situation. My phone's GPS is active twenty-four hours a day. The Southeast Military Region would have been alerted within an hour of the signal being lost.
"By now, people on the outside have likely started searching for us, so don't worry too much. We're not isolated and without help."
"I've heard that Different Dimensional Spaces are usually full of fierce Exotic Beasts, and when these spaces open, Exotic Beasts invade the human world. But... why are there members of the Demon Clan here? And I haven't seen any Exotic Beasts."
"That indicates only one thing: this isn't an Exotic Beast's Different Dimensional Space. It was created by the Demon Clan, and our entry was orchestrated by them.
"I mentioned before that this vehicle was reinforced; that's why we didn't suffer mass casualties when we fell from the cliff. This was all part of the Demon Clan's plan. From what happened with Mr. Qiu, I can roughly guess their objective.
"They intend to replace everyone on this bus."
Wang Lan's heart grew heavier. The Demon Clan is planning to invade again, just seventy years after their defeat? War was an unbearable burden, especially for Star Martial Warriors, who carried the legacy of all human civilization.
The grievous wounds from the last brutal war had not yet healed into scars. The astronomical number of casualties weighed on Wang Lan like a massive stone, almost suffocating him.
"You're a Star Martial Warrior, and falling into this predicament together... it must be fate. I can tell you responsibly that history textbooks have glorified the war that began two hundred years ago.
"Perhaps humanity has defeated the Demon Clan at some point in history, but certainly not the last time. In reality, we lost. We lost our final capacity to resist."
Lost? If we lost, why weren't we subjugated by the Demon Clan? Why are we still... Wang Lan found it hard to believe. Although he possessed the memories of two lifetimes and knew that many truths could be distorted, he still couldn't accept that seventy years of rapid development and peace were built upon a foundation of defeat.
Qin Weimin took a long drag, finishing half his cigarette in one go. "Because, at the final moment, the Demon Clan retreated on their own accord."
"You should know how brutal the Third Demon Calamity was. Jade Country was the first nation to announce it would forsake all prejudices and abandon all interests, solely to protect human civilization.
"Subsequently, 273 nations worldwide declared their full commitment to the war. It lasted for 132 years—more than a century, a struggle spanning five generations.
"Can you imagine families where the father died in battle, so the son went to the front lines; the son died, so the grandson went; the grandson died, and then the great-grandson went? In those war-torn years, such things were commonplace.
"During the Third Calamity, Jade Country's military death toll was 120 million. That's the number of soldiers who died in battle. But if you ask for Jade Country's total death toll, you can add a zero to that number.
"One billion! One hundred and thirty years, five generations! Such heartbreaking figures. Can you comprehend the despair behind them?
"Think of the Dongdao Kingdom. The King of Dongdao, in a hoarse voice, declared to the world that they would 'rather be shattered jade than an intact tile.' He then ordered the detonation of twelve nuclear warheads buried in seven of their own cities, resulting in seventeen million people perishing alongside the Demon Clan legions.
"King Kathe committed suicide by smashing his head against a wall after the nuclear detonations.
"You've read about this in your history textbooks, haven't you? While we lavish praise on the Dongdao Kingdom's integrity, have we ever considered what desperate circumstances could have forced them into such a decision?
"It was because the Demon Clan had successfully conquered all of Dongdao's territory and amassed a vast army there, their forces aimed directly at Jade Country. By then, Jade Country had already fought to the point of utter depletion, with no ammunition or supplies left, completely unable to withstand the Demon Clan's grand army."